


One Shots and Canceled Fics

by Nobli



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Corruption, Prison, Vikings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-01
Updated: 2018-09-08
Packaged: 2019-05-16 19:29:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14817485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nobli/pseuds/Nobli
Summary: One Shots and Canceled Fics1. 1-? "Prison" (Formerly of "Cimar of Turalis'" "What_If" Project, Canceled.)2. 5 "A Lone Tonight" One Shot for "Sleepy Heads!" Art By Red Velvet Panda





	1. (Formerly;) Prison Chapter 1: Formalities of Justice

**Author's Note:**

> Here we are, I had planned to make this a while back, a dump file for partial or entirely canceled Fics that I was working on, some that were co-authored or part of larger projects. Either way I think it will be a good place to drop them to see how people may have liked them had they been worked to completion or at least not having all effort I put into them go to waste.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> P.S. (As A03 only allows chapter by chapter notes for fics of at minimum 2 chapters, the note meant for chapter 1 had to be posted to chapter 2, to guarantee its visibility. It is now also being posted to chapter 1 where it belongs. Subsequent chapters 3, 4, and 5 will, for this reason not require this long winded note. I apologize for its inconvenience.)
> 
> I had intentions to write out a "Judy goes to jail" fic since my early entry into the fandom and my first experience with a fellow fan in discord was one "Poog" as some of you may have known him. A staunch fan of Judy (maybe even too much so, hint, hint.) We debated on the morality and legality of Judys actions, wherein I argued; Judys actions may have been seen as necessary in the pursuit of Bellwethers underground ring of narcing sheep, but was still in fact illegal vigilantism (emphasis on the number of lives potentially risked in stealing a train cart exceeded the number harmed so far as a result of the narc darts by a magnitude of hundreds). That interaction prompted me to want to write something in regards to my take on it.
> 
> Now the "Why," it was canceled... Thats a bit more of a story, please skip if you are adverse to the "drama" of this fandom. I originally applied for a couple slots in Cimars "What_If" project, citing this one and my previous declaration of wanting to write a similar thing, it was perfect in this interest and meant an already existing interest. I had some sour incidences between myself and the host "Cimar of Turalis" prior with some disrespect and rudeness but decided that it wasn't worth getting hung up on and figured a mutual participated story would be a fun way to bury the hatchet and contribute more community things to this fandom.
> 
> Work picked up which caused delays, then a promotion and more work, then some unpleasant individuals within the fandom soured my enjoyment further. (Some who make cameos in this one shot as a bit of a childish mockery on my part, hey I can be immature if I want to be every now and again.)
> 
> However shortly before I had finished "Prison." I had a couple friends note some drama that had begun to go down in Cimars server regarding an incident of mistaken identity where an artist was incorrectly noted as another member and punished accordingly, and was defamed during said incident. After it had come to light that the identity was mistaken and no apology was given after publicly and privately slandering the artist it had become apparent to several involved that Cimar had targeted said individual out of personal spite. This was a third of similar incident I had been informed of, barring my own personal experiences I realized that my own "water under the bridge" style of handling things may have given the impression of condoning Cimars actions and decided that to clarify my stance of morality that I would be removing all my submissions to the "What_If" project effective immediately. I expressed that his behavior and bias were unwarranted and that I would be distancing myself as quietly and calmly as possible... he then proceeded to ban me and began claiming that I had been actively harassing him.
> 
> The original rules of this submission (Formerly; "Prison") were five chapters at no more than 5,000 words. A bit of a tough number to maintain if you ask me, I end up being a little too wordy.

 

Cover Art Formerly "---" by RedVelvetPanda (Formerly for "Viking" Mini-fic for Cimar of Turalis' "What_If" Project.)

 

(Formerly;) Prison Chapter 1: Formalities of Justice

 

“I’m not going to jail, i’m not going to jail.” Nick; a taller, male red fox said, sounding less confident each time he repeated it.

 

“You’re not,” Assured Judy; the female grey rabbit, just beside him.

 

“I spent my whole life avoiding places like this.” He reiterated, “For as long as I have been dodging them while intentionally breaking the law, It would be very poetic if I got locked up for actually doing the right thing for once.”

 

She returned “It's just a formality,” for as many times as she repeated that line it had begun to sound like a prayer. Nick responding with a barely attentive _hmm_ , only for his voice to crack nervously as he did. They began the climb of the courthouse steps, the two noticing the growing number of murmurs from the onlooking crowd of mammals they got, likely givin the immense coverage the two were getting was all over the news. The structure in front of them was massive, justifiably so in it’s need to accommodate any and all mammals of the utopian society of Zootopia; Where anyone could be anything, _Including incarcerated for saving the city._ Nick thought to himself when taking stock of his current circumstance. The early morning sunlight gleamed off its surface effortlessly. Marble floors, tremendous pillars that were entirely unnecessary, accented its face. The whole of the Zootopian courthouse was imposing, impressive and, to a mammal like Nick, intimidating. He had grown to fear this very building, skirting the law and stretching its limits for as long as he had.

 

Not even a couple days before they had been here to testify for Bellwether’s arrest. Now they faced the other side of the judiciary system for their actions leading up to the former mayor's incarceration. _A formality_ , they had been assured. Their actions were described as having been necessary for the sake of revealing the sheep mayor's conspiracies. However, the two were legally detained, in as loose a term as it was and put under house arrest for the duration of time leading up to their trial.

 

They were lead through the courthouse by the accompanying officers that had been there during Bellwethers arrest, acting as witnesses, as well as the legal obligation of the police force to transport suspects deemed as flight risks facing trial. Their steps echoed the otherwise quiet building as they made their way around the corner to a long hall of numbered rooms. Theirs being courtroom _14,_ denoted by the plaque on the wall just outside its door. They entered to the familiar, quieted whispers like the ones on the courthouse steps just outside. They walked down the isle quickly coming to the small wooden gate that separated the two sections, it swung freely as they crossed from one side of the legal divide to the other. One half dotted with benches for citizens, family and friends to watch the case unfold, the other for the hearing itself, for _them_ . _Them,_ indicating the suspects, the accused, the criminals so to speak and their _right_ to a fair trial. To the left was the city's prosecutors, a line of three representatives tasked with pursuing the legal interests of the city and upholding the written will of the law. Cogsworth; the Treasurer of Zootopia, named Mayor in place of Bellwether since her conviction, had taken a special interest in making sure their trial was seriously handled.

 

The would be _heros_ faced off with the stares of the city prosecution; A bob cat, white tailed deer and a short, stocky pig. Nick cringed at the effort it took to pronounce their very rich names. The duo stepped to the right, there at their table sat a small rat attorney; Shwartson who was hired as their representative and aimed to apply the law to their defense. He welcomed them with a smile, “Ah you made it.” He whispered kindly, warmly as he extended a small hand to shake theirs. Nick swallowed apprehensivly when he looked up at the massive, obsidian colored wooden structure that centered the isle and front of the courtroom. Nick and Judy sat in their appropriately sized seats, barely the moment they did-

 

“All rise for the honorable Judge Brambleburry!” Boomed an old grey boar in muted tan and brown uniform that stood just off and to the right of the judges stand, his uniform contrasting the likes of the navy blues that Bogo and his officers wore, denoting their function as staffed officers of the court. Everyone's quieted discussion died down and every animal present from civilians to Bogo himself, all stood respectfully, prompting both the smaller mammals to do the same. Just beside the Judges stand opened a door, one could be forgiven for not noticing it as it emulated the color and scheme of the wooden wall it was attached to. Outstepping was an elderly looking, grey woolen ram with sagging eyes in a black robe, the years not taking kindly to him in his slouch. “Please be seated!” Rasped again the voice of the boar bailiff. ‘ _Something is off’_ , Nick’s eyebrow rose as he looked over the judge who didn’t match the description of the one they had been told would be presiding over their court case. Judy and Nick spared a glance at each other, matched in their quizzical expressions before turning back to a similarly confused look on the attending, Chief Bogos face.

 

“Your honor, if I may?” Began the quirked, barely audible tone of their representative attorney. The rodent lawyer who the two had only heard about a day prior and only met a few hours beforehand in the rapid course of events. Still the small mammals voice carried across the quieted room, the noted faces of the bailiff, and the judge as he finished the climb of the steps leading up to his large desk, looked back to him.

 

“You have something to sayyy-” The old ram muttered with a drolling roll of his hand as he looked to his bailiff.

 

“Mr. Shwartson,” The boar whispered back to the elderly mammal.

 

“Ahh, thank you Mr. Truff,” The old sheep exclaimed with a nod to the attending officer before setting his eyes back on the small lawyer. “You have something to say, Mr. Shwartson.” Nick and Judy both waited, watching the expression of their representative.

 

“Yes, your honor. We were scheduled room fourteen for the court case regarding The City vs Judith Laverne Hopps and Nicholas Piberius Wilde overseen by Judge Lockjaw.” He ended with a furrowed expression as he awaited the response of the slow moving, elderly ram atop the large structure that sat center in front of them. Several curious sounds mumbled across the crowds seated behind them throughout the courtroom in regards to the absentee canine that was instead expected.

 

Judge Bramble was slow in his motions, adorning his long slouched snout with a pair of strongly sighted spectacles as he looked over a series of sheets of paper across the desk. “This is docket 1-8-5-5-6-3-8-2-1-4-0, correct?” The Judge asked, lowering his glasses as he looked over the attending prosecutions table then the defendant's own table, his eyes marking each of them appraisingly as he did, the simple gesture stilled Nick where he sat with a chill running down his back and a parched dryness to his mouth. The small rat attorney darted across his papers as did the three prosecutors to their left, both teams coming to a similar conclusion as they looked up.

 

“Correct, your honor.” They mirrored as the sheep nodded slowly, a known staple of his bored expression as he handled his courtroom. History knew him as heavy handed when it came to the law and punishments, something that Judy knew, something that she decided to knowingly withhold from the already nervous like apprehension that readily oozed from the con fox sat just beside her in light of his already visibly anxious.

 

“Then it appears Judge Lockjaw’s recent bout with some fleas forced him away from these proceedings and has requested that I preside over them in his absence as all mammals are granted the right to a swift and just trial. Do you have any additional questions, Misterrrr-” The old sheep looked back to his Bailiff again.

 

“-Shwartson,” The boar whispered up to him.

 

“-Shwartson.” Ended the mumbling, elderly judge.

 

The rat looked back to Bogo who shrugged, “No your honor, we simply did not receive information that we would continue under a different Judge.”

 

The old sheep nodded understandingly, “Please correct that for the record.” Bramble said with a dismissive wave of his hoof to the present stenographer; a nicely dressed cervine woman who nodded in response. “I will have to reprimand the organizer for not sending you this information immediately. It was only decided earlier this morning when Judge Lockjaw called in with the problem. I apologize for this inconvenience, now may we continue?” Bramble informed more than asked with a raised brow. Shwartson nodded. “Good.” He ended clicking his draft of papers into a more uniform shape before setting them across the desk again.

 

From there the room fell into a boring routine, it was a simple process of back and forth between their attorney and the cities prosecution. Charges were placed at their feet by the opposing lawyers and theirs responded with a line of evidences from the natural history museum and Dougs train car with specialists to testify on their behalf in regards to their contents. The two were in large part out of their element, Nick having the minor saving graces of knowledge given his hobby of dodging the law and Judys own shorthand of credits taken for criminal justice while in college.

 

Judy found herself smiling at the nervous expression of her otherwise stoic partner in the seat beside her. Guilt in the revelation that this scenario was of her own making and a long time coming, friends and family could be seen across the benches behind them but not one that Nick could call his own. A warm, soothing smile was all she could manage instead, visibly easing the tension that formed across his appearance every time his nerves began to show cracks in his usual confident features.

 

The day both flew by and passed in sluggish pace between the rapid fire competition between their representative attorney and the prosecution. There wasn’t much that hadn't already been covered in preliminary hearings or seen in constant re-runs of the news so it didn’t take long until final statements had been made and the jury was ready to deliberate for a consensus in regards to their charges. They were directed by the bailiff into a separate room. They would be granted however long they needed, the time they needed ended up being close to five minutes, if that before the door opened again and they walked in their lines back to their bench seats.

 

A gavel silenced the quiet murmurs across the room again as Judge Bramble looked the jurors over, “Have you come to a decision?” He asked cautiously. A nicely dressed tiger nodded as he held some papers, acting as the representative of the jurries final conclusions, he stood handing a paper to the bailiff that was passed from him to the judge. “You may continue,” the old ram stated clearly, looking over the offered paper as the tiger nodded again, turning over a sheet in his hand. Judy felt Nick’s larger paw clasp over hers as an uninhibited act of worry darted across his expression again. She looked up, expecting to find him looking at her but instead his eyes fixated on the tiger who cleared his throat.

 

The moment lasted several minutes, or so it felt to the panicked undercoat of the red fox. “We the jury find the defendants; Judith Laverne Hopps and Nicholas Piberius Wilde…” A dramatic pause as worth of any paw and order episode, waited out the crowds. “Not guilty-”

 

Applause, cheering, smiles, all the makings of celebration heard over the previously hushed crowd, all faded into the peripheral focuses of Nick. Despite the energetic rabbit that nearly bounced in the seat next to him with excitement. Nicks eyes however fixated on the tiger as he continued.

 

“-Of the charges of criminal negligence,” Asked Judge Bramble.

 

“Not Guilty,” Responded the tiger and Nicks focus broadened with the slight upturn of his lips from the line they sat neutral at before.

 

“The charge of reckless endangerment,” Continued the Judge.

 

Again, “Not guilty.” The tiger stated with no uncertainty and again Nicks focus shifted, a smile beginning to form with the rise of his narrowed ears. The sounds of the rabbit next to him slowly grabbing his attention.

 

“Illegal vigilantism,” The Judge continued in his still bored, unattached tone.

 

“Nick we did it!” Judy’s voice finally broke the white noise like silence that encompassed Nicks sense of hearing as he turned to match her excited expression with his own.

 

_“Not Guilty.”_

 

“We’re innocent?” He asked her,

 

_“Federal Destruction of Public Property.”_

 

“That's the Jury's verdict.” Judy expressed with a proud smile, Nicks focus broadened again as a large clovine hand took his shoulder and shook him further into the excitement beyond the fence of several cheering citizens and other officers. Ones Nick hadn't even realized were there on their behalf or in their support.

 

“Not Guilty.”

 

“Not Guilty.”

 

“Not Guilty, your honor.” One by one the judge read off, each time the tiger responded with the note along his sheet and replied promptly. The stenographer was hard at work as their innocence was denoted into permanence by the ink of her typing. “We the Jury find the defendants Innocent of all charges of which they are accused.” Finished the suited tiger with a smile as he glanced over to the rabbit and fox.

 

Cheers broke out even louder this time for several more seconds before, Clack! Clack! Clack! Sounded the gavel of the Judge again. “Order, order in my courtroom!” He fought with a cough.

 

“Order!” boomed the louder tone of the imposing; Mr Truff, catching the attention of the excitable crowd. He waited the silence of the crowd with his stare of disappointment until finally a hush came over all attending. Judge bramble cleared his throat, “Let it be known that the Jury has found the defendants,” Bramble motioned first to Judy. “Judith Laverne Hopps,” He motioned then to Nick. “And Nicholas Piberius Wilde; not guilty of all charges as listed in these here proceedings.” The room almost boomed again with renewed excitement but Nicks focus fell on the ominous tone of Judge Bramble. He could feel something eating away at his small bout of optimism as he furrowed an expression for the cautious pause, “However.” The word felt as if a hammer to glass in the way it shattered the excitement.

 

“What?” Whispered their attorney just beside them.

 

“I will be invoking Directed Verdict,”

 

“No.” breathlessly replied the fearful tone of the small attorney beside them.

 

“I hereby overrule the Jury’s verdict of innocence. Under rule Fifty of Federal Zootopian Rules of Civil Procedure-”  
  
“You can’t do that!” responded the tensed jaw of Bogo as he leaned over the fenced barrier of the courtroom.

 

“-As I find the Jury incapable of coming to a sound and just verdict-” Nick felt his lungs begin to heave in a confused strain, voices all around him lost in the shallow waves of more joining in their dissatisfaction with the change of verdict. He felt the full torque of a panic closing around him, he looked all around with his ears returning to the low splayed state behind his head, finally his eyes moved to set on the one thing he trusted most in that moment, the last vestige of calm and sanity he could expect. But instead the grey furred rabbits eyes shown the last thing he wanted to see, fear, defeat and a dozen others that mirrored the way he felt.

 

“-Guilty!” rang the tone that tore him from his confused state and focus shot back to the Judge as a gavel cracked the wood block stationed atop his desk.

 

“Of the charges of Felony Destruction of Property, Criminal Negligence, Reckless Endangerment, Illegal Vigilantism-”

 

“Nick, I’m so sorry.” The voice caught him off guard again as he returned his focus to his friend.

 

“Bailiff, take the defendants into custody to be transported to Zootopia Maximum Security Penitentiary.”

 

“No!” Yelled Bogo from behind him, something.

The room was anything but orderly, everything turned to Anarchy but something snapped in Nick, a full panic as the somber Judy that stared at him suddenly vanished into the grip of the massive Boar Bailiff. He didn’t remember what happened next, if he were in a better state of mind he probably would have avoided lunging at the bailiff, hindsight being 20/20.


	2. (Formerly;) Prison Chapter 2: Incarceration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Judy and Nick are processed following their wrongful and questionable "Directed Verdict," charge at Zootopias maximum security prison. Demoralized in so many ways as Judy experiences the other end of the law to its fullest extent as well as the consequences of her own form of justice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright now, sadly A03 doesn't allow chapter by chapter notes until a file (fic by title) has at minimum of two chapters. From here forward this will allow me to clarify on these respective chapters, why they were canceled or discontinued etc.
> 
> I had intentions to write out a "Judy goes to jail" fic since my early entry into the fandom and my first experience with a fellow fan in discord was one "Poog" as some of you may have known him. A staunch fan of Judy (maybe even too much so, hint, hint.) We debated on the morality and legality of Judys actions, wherein I argued; Judys actions may have been seen as necessary in the pursuit of Bellwethers underground ring of narcing sheep, but was still in fact illegal vigilantism (emphasis on the number of lives potentially risked in stealing a train cart exceeded the number harmed so far as a result of the narc darts by a magnitude of hundreds). That interaction prompted me to want to write something in regards to my take on it.
> 
> Now the "Why," it was canceled... Thats a bit more of a story, please skip if you are adverse to the "drama" of this fandom. I originally applied for a couple slots in Cimars "What_If" project, citing this one and my previous declaration of wanting to write a similar thing, it was perfect in this interest and meant an already existing interest. I had some sour incidences between myself and the host "Cimar of Turalis" prior with some disrespect and rudeness but decided that it wasn't worth getting hung up on and figured a mutual participated story would be a fun way to bury the hatchet and contribute more community things to this fandom.
> 
> Work picked up which caused delays, then a promotion and more work, then some unpleasant individuals within the fandom soured my enjoyment further. (Some who make cameos in this one shot as a bit of a childish mockery on my part, hey I can be immature if I want to be every now and again.)
> 
> However shortly before I had finished "Prison." I had a couple friends note some drama that had begun to go down in Cimars server regarding an incident of mistaken identity where an artist was incorrectly noted as another member and punished accordingly, and was defamed during said incident. After it had come to light that the identity was mistaken and no apology was given after publicly and privately slandering the artist it had become apparent to several involved that Cimar had targeted said individual out of personal spite. This was a third of similar incident I had been informed of, barring my own personal experiences I realized that my own "water under the bridge" style of handling things may have given the impression of condoning Cimars actions and decided that to clarify my stance of morality that I would be removing all my submissions to the "What_If" project effective immediately. I expressed that his behavior and bias were unwarranted and that I would be distancing myself as quietly and calmly as possible... he then proceeded to ban me and began claiming that I had been actively harassing him.
> 
> The original rules of this submission (Formerly; "Prison") were five chapters at no more than 5,000 words. A bit of a tough number to maintain if you ask me, I end up being a little too wordy.

(Formerly;) Prison Chapter 2: Incarceration

  
  


They were dragged there  _ like criminals _ by the scruffs of their necks, in Nick's case, literally. Humiliated as they were dressed down under the watchful eye of prison guards,  _ like criminals. _ They surrendered any worldly possessions on their persons, the suddenness of their detainment meaning sparse use of the space in the envelopes they were supplied to the lock up guard; A massive hippo whose chair squeaked with shrill sounds whenever he moved. Their items were tossed unceremoniously into the listless pile just beside his desk.

 

“Wannabe cop!” Judy’s choice words used at the careless way the employee tossed her phone and keys. They were drudged through the gloom, monotonous halls of Zootopia’s maximum security penitentiary. They were marched the whole routine, having lost the will to even argue against their treatment by the time they were sat in front of a camera for their mugshots.

 

“No good deed goes unpunished, huh Carrots?” Nick managed a weak laugh as they waited for the flash.

 

“No talking,” demanded the guard who was administering their check in. Both held somber, defeated expressions as they waited a good several seconds, not knowing when the camera would go off, until it did. They were blinded by the bright light that would immortalize their failures in the form of the display that looked back at them with the image taken. Nick managed a glance to see the look that defined his stay there before they were shuttled off to the next part in processing.

 

His hand was pressed harshly into the sponge of blackened ink then rolled across a sheet, offering a discontented sigh as they took his prints.

 

“Um, no paw pads.” Judy chimed in before her turn, raising a paw in example; Extending the full length of her fingers, she revealed the layers of thicker fur that covered her digits, proving to the attending guard that this process wouldn’t accomplish anything.

 

“Don’t care,” The guards response. Like Nick, her hand was grabbed harshly, tugged forward to the sponged ink and pressed. Judys statement was accurately represented by the blotched image that followed across the brightly colored paper, but again the guard seemed indifferent to this fact as they were shoved again to the next room.

 

The demoralizing process was designed to show them the extent of the massive prison. Grey walls of concrete that wept lines of rust as the frail attempts at newer layers of paint continued to fail against the rickety piping that extended the full length of the compound just over head. The ramshackle facility failed to impress the statements made about its successful history of incarcerating Zootopia’s  _ most dangerous _ . A title that herself and the fox walking just beside her apparently warranted due to their vigilante actions. They didn’t talk much, mostly because each time that they did a guard would shush them, shove them again or in some way make it clear that they had lost that right. One by one she counted the freedoms that were actively stripped from them in just a short order of a few rooms. She looked over her hands to find the white fur in her palms stained from the loose ink as they walked, their paws bound by the cuffs as they went. She continued to stare at the offending pigment with distaste, biting her tongue until they were set into the next room, awaiting the final steps of their stay there in being assigned cells.

 

“You would think they could at least give us something for the ink.” Judy complained.

 

“Hey, keep your ears up. How long are we in for again?”

 

Judy scowled at the taller predator, “I don’t know. After all the charges, we’re looking forward to-” She counted along her fingers. “Twenty years,” The thin furred features along the taller animal’s face paled at this revelation. “Ten for parole with good behavior,” Judy tried to chuckle but failed to get any sort of optimistic sound to come out.

 

Nick wore a better mask in that moment, giving a warm, reassuring smile before draping a friendly arm across her shoulders and giving her a soft shake. “Yea, thats something to look forward to, right?” Judy managed the first smile since their unpleasant trip over there, sympathetic to the slight shiner Nick wore after his panic back at the courthouse.

 

The moment wasn’t allowed to last as the large door that centered between the entrance and exit opened with a loud thud. Staffed by a tall giraffe who had to lower his tall neck to even pass through the smaller portal as he joined them in the smallish room. He was a kindly looking suited creature with a devilishly friendly smile. “I have your paperwork all done,” He said in a sickly sweet tone. The two didn’t fully recognize him but wouldn’t need to from the name tag,  _ Sam Bushwell,  _ it read just over the unmistakable  _ Warden _ , tag. “Sorry it took so long, we weren’t expecting additional inmates on such short notice but you have rooms assigned to you now.”   
  
“Trust me, we weren’t exactly expecting to be here either.” Nick offered with a cross of his arms. Not that the personal moment wasn’t already ruined but Judy still felt a loss when his arm that was offering the previous comfort left her side so suddenly.

 

“I heard,” He began, gesturing to a corner of the room. Stationed there was a defunct television set that was two decades past its prime there and useless as it was turned off. “This morning's news has been all about you two.” With a click the old crt boomed to life with a static crackle sound.

 

_ “Protests continue to flare up here in downtown Savannah, a sweltering number of mammals have arrived to show their agitations for Judge Brambles decision to overrule the verdict of the jury in the case of Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde.”  _ The television showed as the reporter looked over the large crowd of animals, already having taken to occupying the streets just outside the courthouse.  _ “Lines of officers have already been dispatched since the recent influx of angry citizens that have began to form in protest after the announcement of the judgment this Wednesday.”  _ The camera panned across the expanse of the brightly lit summer sight of the otherwise regal center of their fair city. Judy and Nick both made out the taller image of Bogo who stood across the steps of the courthouse.

 

“He looks mad,” Nick added as the camera zoomed in on the aforementioned water buffalo.

 

“No more than usual.” Judy mocked with slight laughter, she watched the Chief point across his line of officers as they separated the protesters from the courthouse. “Ok, maybe a little more than usual.”

 

_ “As you can see, the support is impressive, estimates say the crowd could grow to over two thousand by this afternoon.” _

 

Nick whistled impressively, “Two thousand? That's more animals than my whole high school.”

 

Judy smirked, “Don’t let it get to your head. I bet half of them were involved in protests against predators before we found out it was night howlers.”

 

“Ouch fluffs, can’t even let me have a moment in the spotlight.” The two laughed lightly together before the old crt gave another ominous sharp sound before dissipating into a contorted image of static then blank again.

 

“Expect no such admiration within the confines of my prison.” Sam said stoically as he stood tall where he was. “You will be model animals during your stay here, do you understand me?” He cautioned with a raised brow.

 

“Don’t worry, we don’t plan to overstay our welcome. From the looks of things that Judges decision is going to be overturned in just a few days. So you won’t have to deal with the pleasantness of our company for very long.”

 

The taller mammal didn’t look very happy to hear this however, “No difference. You foxes tend to end up in here eventually.” He smirked with an upturn of the curve of his lips.

 

“How dare you,” Judy shot back, rising to stand on her chair. A useless gesture in the grand scheme of things given their height differences but the motion was noted for its defiance. “You don’t know anything about him.”

 

Judy may have not noticed it but Nick did, “Judy I don’t think you should.” He added trying to tug at her sleeve lightly. He cautioned a glance at the two guards who moved quietly towards the two.

 

Judy was of a one track mind however as she hopped off the bench in a war march towards the warden. “He saved my life, he saved several lives and helped me capture and put several dangerous animals behind bars.” She spat on approach of the tall giraffe as she looked up with an angry glare.

 

Instead the ominous glare of the taller warden, Sam looked down at her with a devilish smirk adorning his expression. “You are right,” he said, his tone hinting. “Behind the very same bars you are now, keep that in mind.” Both Nick and Judy's expressions soured at the revelation, everything suddenly coming to a sense. They wouldn't get the chance to voice this revelation before their final losses of freedoms. “Take them to their assigned cells,” was the final gestured order of the tall malignant warden as he about stepped, returning to the door he had entered from only moments before. On either side of him the two guards approached them with the perpetual mean looks that seemed almost irremovable from their faces. Large night sticks in their hands warranted worried returning stares of both Nick and Judy.

 

“We aren’t going to have any problems, are we?” The booming loud voice of the rhino officer challenged.

 

Judy smirked back defiantly, “What, you think you scare me? I’ll have you know I boxed with a rhino twice as mean-” The darker fur of an auburn hand reached around clasping her mouth shut as it did.

 

“No problems, none… at all.” Nick added with a nervous chuckle.

 

The elephant and rhino guards glared down to the two, “Good, move!” Grunted the long horned rhino with a spout of his nose as he breathed out.

 

\---

 

Spare sets of uniforms and fresh pillows were the closest things to personal belongings to them now. In hand they readied to walk the narrow crossing of the yard, an open, fenced hall that separated the administrative building from the main prison quarters, sky bridges connecting darted guard towers around the two complexes to make sure control and order of the facility was always able to be maintained, even if a riot cost the loss of the facilities main entrance.

 

“Move,” Voiced a large Bull; old skin as hard as tough leather was paled by his scar riddled face as the two complied. The doors opened, the sound of the heavy metal moving outwards was broke into a silence when they began their walk. It was dead silent as the sorry state of appearances of the many mammals out that day. Steps took to the gravel, uncomfortable to their feet most notably Judy's unpadded ones. The sun baked onto them from overhead, the hottest point of the day reached in the earliest hours just past afternoon. It wasn’t alone for long though, the left duel layer of thick chain link fence saw the women's side of the prison while the right was the male's side.

 

“New blood!” Brattled the deep rasping voice of a wolf that caught Judys attention, to her surprise the torn face of the fang smiling animal came from the left. It was all that was needed to goad like notice of them and in wrought a slue of similar remarks.

 

“I know her, that's that stupid rabbit from the news.”   
  
“That's her?”

 

The right side fence wasn’t slow to add their own voices to the mix as well, “Another fox? No surprise,” mocked a towering black bear to the right.

 

“Hey rabbit!” Yelled a voice that caught Judys attention. Her ears shot up as she turned, what appeared to be a thin bobcat that snarled back at her from beyond the fence. Claws on full display with ivory white rows of deathly fangs similarly adorned for view. “You have any idea how much trouble you caused with that press release? My boy saw two weeks in the hospital after you pulled that. You, are, dead!” She snarled before a swift strike from a patrolling guards baton against the fingers she interlocked with the chain links. The pain caused the feline to wince instinctively as she retreated her paw from the fence. Instinct was overturned however as she latched to the fence again in a more threatening snarl. “Dead, you hear me cottontail, dead!” She hissed again, two more whacks clearly agitating her but not dissuading her clear threats despite their emanating pain.

 

Judy slowed at the open threat against her life but she was rewarded with nothing more than the unrelenting nudge of the bull captain that urged her forward with a gruff shove of his leg. She didn’t find empathy in his expression as she looked up but instead the apathetic glare that warned her forward, one that she followed without pause.

 

“Don’t need an excuse to carve a fox myself.” Chortled a massive moose to the pairs right.

 

“Friendly bunch, we’ll make friends in no time.” Comforted Nick as the two practically remained shoulder to shoulder in their locked march forward.

 

“Heh, yea. Probably.” Judy managed an infinitely less convincing reply as they reached the end of their death row like walk to the final structure. AT the end of the fenced narrow opened a massive steel fortified door. Inside it lead to a large security room, off each shoulder were iron barred doors leading off into the respective compounds sides.

 

“Women's to the left, men’s to the right.” The bull captain announced plainly, motioning to the two barred sections as he did.

 

Nick looked at the somber, low eared rabbit to his left. Judy looked back to the flatly ears and low tail of the fox to her right, it was sudden when she hugged him but not unwelcomed, unhesitatingly returned by the auburn animal.

 

“See ya around Carrots?”

 

“See you, Slick,” Judy chuckled weakly.

 

“Move,” ended the unceremonious voice of the guard captain with a slight shove to the fox. Nick didn’t need any more encouragement than that, moving to the gate at his side. A loud ring not unlike the lock up earlier in the administrative building rang out, mirrored by the other side and with that the two were officially inmates.

  
  


\---

 

“Wow,” Nick mused with a surprised expression. Middle of a some five story structure of wall to wall cells lining the building. Being ground level before he understood now that part of the building was underground. “ _ That would be an understatement, _ ” He figured from each floor being no shorter than twenty feet, in accommodation of larger mammals should they need them. Medium sized cells could be made out in place of the larger ones in severely cramped grid like patterns to save on space.

 

A slight thud at Nick's back reminded him for the third time of the impatient nature of his own guard in the form of the Bull captain, he scratched his head at the agitation this time and began to walk in fear of furthering the diligently growing effort put into each reminder of the larger mammals authority and poor disposition.

 

“Cell C128 is where you will be staying for the foreseeable future.”

 

“Not a very long future, I’m innocent.” Nick mocked as he walked the right hand grated footpath.

 

The bull gave a humored snort, “An innocent fox? Never heard that one before.” He laughed lightly from the deep below of his stomach.

 

“Well, it's true for once. Ironic that the first time I am innocent is the one time I go to jail, huh?”

 

The bull shrugged slightly from what Nick could make out, looking up at the taller mammal proved a poor choice from the bright lights that shone down in bright glaring rays. “Or just karma. It's what your kind generally deserves.”

 

“Foxes?”

 

The bull shook his head slowly from side to side, “Criminals.” He said plainly as he came to a stop. “This one's yours,” He said with a tap of his hooven hand on a clear door.

 

“Plastic?”

 

“Reinforced polycarbonates and fiberglass, it used to be bars but thinner species could potentially squeeze through the distance between them. So this was decided as a reasonable alternative.”

 

“Hmm,” Nick shrugged walking in. His summary from earlier hitting a nail on the head at the otherwise confined space. Barely enough space to step on the left hand side, the bunks taking up a good half of the rooms space alone. “Small space, sense of a limitless waste of my time. You sure I didn’t just get conned into going back to college instead of prison?”

 

Nick saw just a glimpse but he didn’t mistake the smile the tall captain wore for all of a second before he suppressed and composed what he would have assumed to be sincere laughter. “C block gets yard in an hour, get situated.” He said plainly before turning about, back the way they came from.

 

“Thanks professor, I’m going to enjoy recess!”

 

Nick smiled to himself as he set his spare sets of clothes down on the lower bunks, deciding on its occupancy from the smell and appearance of the upper one. The colors were faded throughout the building save for the bright lights cast from the buildings fixtures and a massive skylight that centered the building. Looking out from his cell he saw several mammals walking the lines of their open cells, certain floors not matching this, he assumed a sort of structure in which rows and blocks were allowed free time to move around. He noted armed guards walking the skyways of disconnected foot paths that overhung the different floors, granting them access of the building without being on the actual floor with the criminals. It reminded him of the bridges connecting the guard towers and the main buildings just outside, total visual control of the prison by the guards without any of the risk of boots on the ground.

 

Smiles greeted Nick in a cloud of orange in white across the divide of the large rectangular building. Nick squinted, trying to make out the figures despite his diminished vision, his eyes grew wide at the realization of the staring smirk that aimed back at him. A row of some four sheep whose wool stuck out from the whole of their uniforms, all four looking back at him, with one all too familiar at its center, one he recognized from days in the courtroom as a witness.

 

“Doug!”

 

\---

 

“Bellwether!” Judy shot aloud in alarm, jumping from where she sat on her bunk bed.

 

“Its nice to see you too,” Replied the sickly sweet tone of the small ewe. A cumbersome smile adorning her face as she walked into Judy's cell without a care in the world.

 

“Get out.” Judy warned with an attributed finality.

 

“Oh, is that how you talk to friends now?” Cooed Bellwether as she laughed lightly, “You know, come to think of it friends don’t put each other in jail either.”

 

“We are not friends,” Judy spat with a narrowed glare.

 

“Oh,” She voiced with as innocent a body gesture she could manage. Judy couldn’t help but feel angry at the act, annoyed at how well it appeared to function before she knew of the former mayor's secret plans. “We little guys have to stick together,” She said in that same optimistic tone from back at the mayor's building back during the time of the missing mammal case.

 

“Are you just here to mock me? With how you twisted me around your little finger,” Judy sat forward with a look of disdain for the figure that stood so arrogantly in front of her. “Or is this about how we got the better of you?” Judy smirked, enjoying the sudden change of the expression the small sheep wore. It shifted so suddenly from one of innocent, playful mockery to one of a grit toothed rage.

 

“You listen here bunny-” Bellwether threatened, quickly closing the distance between the two, raising a hooved finger towards the obstacle of her sudden anger. “I was sooo close, close to fixing everything!” She barked in annoyance, pressing her hard finger into Judy's chest, “Finally solving the predator problem, getting rid of them, all of them.”

 

“They aren’t the problem, Bellwether.” Judy poised herself in as calm a state as she could manage, eager to prove the more level headed of the two. “You were, and I fixed that.” Judy mocked again, watching the face of the ewe contorted further into a rage.

 

“Well, you think that now. But here you are, with me, and I won’t forget how you destroyed everything I worked so hard to build-” Bellwether seethed as she paced in place, “You and-” She stopped in her tracks. Her face sunk into a nasty one of victory, “That fox.” Bellwether turned back towards her, returning her expression to one of satisfaction. “Well, I can still fix that now that you’re both here. A fox in prison with the most dangerous mammals, maybe he conned one, cheated a hand at cards or, heck looked at one the wrong way. It doesn’t matter, Doug will make it appear like something the public won’t even blink at.” She beamed with a proud expression, the way it mocked Judy just set something off. With that snap she didn’t even remember crossing the small distance, but she grit her teeth as her hands closed around the throat of the vile former mayor.

 

“You won’t touch him!” Judy ordered through her grit teeth. Bellwether made no reply, not that she could as air struggled to escape from her closed windpipe as Judy squeezed tighter. The look of surprise only lasted one moment longer however before the ewes face turned back into one of proud, sickening victory. Bellwethers eyes looked to the right with that sickly smile and Judy realized all too soon, her mistake. A massive hooved hand grabbed her arm and in one fell swoop she was tossed across the room with little effort, slamming into the concrete wall and falling in pained place as she did.

 

“Gah,” She grit from her teeth as she struggled to stand defiantly. She expected a lackey but was surprised to find the underling wearing blue. There standing beside Bellwether was a female pig guard.

 

Bellwether spent another couple seconds rubbing at her throat and coughing a couple times. “Times up dumb bunny, you just don’t get it.” She paused to turn her head from side to side in a bid to temper the pain in her neck still. “You still don’t realize that you’re here-” Bellwether stopped, finally content with the state of her neck as she turned to the rabbit prisoner. “Because I wanted you here.”


	3. (Formerly;) Prison Chapter 3: The Infirm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Both Nick and Judy play to their advantages during their internment, it quickly comes to both their attentions that whatever mammals plan their stay never meant for it to be an extended visit. Learning of Bellwethers plans as they come into play some good luck joins the bad.

(Formerly;) Prison Chapter 3: The Infirm

  
  


Nick was a lucky fox;  _ lucky  _ in that his free hour didn’t match up with Doug’s or any of his roided up rams. They didn’t share laundry duty, mess hall duty, or any other scheduled jobs or chores, Nick was a  _ lucky _ fox.

 

No, the truth was Nick wasn’t lucky, he had something better. It wasn’t fortune when it was his turn to wash dirty uniforms, it wasn’t chance when routines had him serve the unpalatable dishes of barely edible bug byproducts they called food. No, it was because Nick knew mammals, or at least when he didn’t know them he made an effort to change that. Take the cell block captain that oversaw his floor of  _ criminals _ , at least in regards to Nick being there in a strictly unjust fashion. Carson, the aforementioned captain of their little patch of paradise. Nick found the large creature to encompass a sort of demeanor not unlike Judys boss, Chief Bogo, he hoped he was similar to the large bovine chief of police. In that the captain had also taken a liking to referring to Nick as  _ “A Fox” _ during the few times he even acknowledged his existence. Eventually he managed to get on the larger creatures good side thanks to his history of playing the law to his advantage, something that aided in whittling the brutish creature down and dissected him to his baser parts. He found the captain a much more approachable mammal when he wasn’t  _ “Fox”  _ but instead a simple acquaintance on matters of tax. 

 

It wasn’t luck that had been saving Nicks pelt over the last week, it was finding a complicated five percent in taxes he could save Carson as a result of a slight loophole in custodial deduction on his already abysmal yearly salary. Favor due a favor, Nicks times suddenly stopped lining up with the less savory rams of the compound. Nick even found out that Judy also lacked the namesake luck of her species when her times continued to be scheduled to coincide with an angry looking bobcat named Beth. It cemented the duo's suspicions that someone was making sure the two didn’t have a long stay.

 

“You sure?”

 

“Mhm, I had Carson check it over again for-”

 

“Carson?” Judy interjected.

 

Nick sighed, “Keep up Carrots this is life saving information. Carson is the captain of my cell block.”

 

Judy nodded, the knowing motion making a sound of rattling the fence, a set of two thickly linked chain lengths that separated the two adjoining sides of the maximum security penitentiaries ‘yard’ or open space. It was as much sunlight as they would get, chances to exercise and stretch their legs. Nick and Judy both barely took advantage of those opportunities and instead met each time they could at the narrow path that led from the administrators building to the main prison cell blocks. The advantage was the constant patrols that made their way through the narrow, fenced path and the predictable watch of two guard towers that made the spot so appealing to the pair of innocent mammals. They got the usual glares from Doug’s crew on the men's side and Bellwether on the female side, the main reason for their carefully selected meeting spot.

 

“Can you really trust him?” Judy continued.

 

Nick nodded, “I don’t see why not. He's a ‘by the bootstraps’ kind of fellow. Like your Bogo-speaking of which, news from the outside by your boss, I heard he visited earlier today?”

 

“Same as when he visited last time, they are still secretly investigating the Judge. Wolford and Delgato managed to quietly get a Court order to look through Judge Brambles records because of the sketchy nature of his recent overreach of authority. I recommended they look into any connections with Bellwether, and the Warden; Bushwell”

 

Nick nodded with a thoughtful hmm. “Alright, we’ll just have to cross our fingers for now and hope they figure it out.”

 

“Who do you think is intentionally assigning us times with the select number of animals that actually want to see us… ya know?” Judy motioned with a finger across her throat.

 

Nick thought it over, the truth was that the list could be exhaustive. Himself and his dealings in the past warranted some suspicion. To his surprise the number on his list was overshadowed by the rabbit sat just a distance away. Her actions and choice words at that news conference a while ago stirred up more than a number of individuals who would gladly see her the worse for wear. “The warden seems like the easiest guess, that little cryptic threat makes the most sense for it to be him.” Nick shrugged.

 

Judy thought it over with a concerted look across her face.

 

“I know that look,” Caught her attention, her ears swiveling back towards the fox just across from her.

 

“What look?” She questioned.

 

“The trademarked ‘ _ Determined Bun’ _ look.” Nick made a show of emulating her expression even to the straight up position of her ears. “It's kind of cute.”

 

Judy gave him as hard a glare as her features could, “Don’t call me that.” She seethed halfheartedly before crossing her arms with a defiant ‘hmph’ to accent her agitation.

 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.” He sounded even less convincing when he ended the sentence with a barely contained chuckle. “Anyway, please go on. You were  _ thinking _ something?”

 

She didn’t change her expression, still giving him an angry stare with her arms set one over the other. He had to fight back the urge to even call the minor act of rebellion cute a second time for fear of more serious reprisal. After several moments reprimanding him with her glower she sighed. “Alright,” she began, prompting a sincere moment to pay attention. “I was thinking that maybe the Warden wasn’t the one changing the times.”

 

Nick looked confused. “Why though? Hes stationed to be able to do something like moving around chores pretty easily?”

 

“Exactly,” Judy confirmed with a raised finger. “But, it doesn’t make sense.”

 

“How so?”

 

“Because if the Warden had made the change, it wouldn’t make sense that a Captain would have the authority to overturn his shift changes. He would likely make it so that it couldn’t be changed and make sure we ran into, whatever, Bellwether planned for us.” Judy threw her arms up in annoyance. “There was this other guard that was acting like Bellwethers personal muscle.”

 

“Oh,” Nick nodded. “So we have even more to worry about than just a corrupt Judge, a corrupt Warden and convicted homicidal maniacs that have already tried to kill us a couple of times?” Nick questioned with a playful raise of his eyebrow.

 

Judy rolled her eyes, “Yes.”

 

“Hmm,” Nick mumbled, Judy following suit as the two thought over the very real dangers they continued to be in. “Well, what should we do next?”

 

Judy shrugged, the truth was that having survived as long as they had up to this point was a combination of the assets available to either of them, namely Nicks infallible ability to make well with the prison staff that managed to buy them time. Time being the main goal since Judy's own suspicions and the benefit of mammals on the outside in the form of her friends and co-workers at the ZPD keeping her informed on the continuing investigation of the corrupt Judge. “We wait,” Judy replied.

 

The two looked at each other, curiosity adorned across Nick's expression with Judy's marked more with concern. “If Bogo managed to get a warrant for Judge Brambles files that means they dug up enough information to justify a formal investigation. With that, he will likely have a full investigative team on it. Based on what Bellwether and the Warden said, there is bound to be something that will show up tieing Bellwether to the Warden and Bushwell to the Judge. For now all we have to do is-”

 

“-Wait.” Nick finished. A look of genuine understanding and camaraderie in the warm smile he offered. It did wonders at assuaging the worry she felt in the pit of her stomach. It sounded simple, telling him to wait and aiming to accomplish that simple task herself. But as her eyes looked over the yard again, the ever present focus of Bellwether on herself and Doug and his motley bunch on Nick made that prospect all the more ominously dangerous. They needed time in the one place that their enemies grew increasingly less patient.

 

“Yea,” Judy nodded. “We made it this far right?”

 

“Of course we did Carrots, now it's just the home stretch.”

 

A loud sound rang from the fog horns lining the open spaces, clearly identifying the end of their time in the sunlight. Orderly lines wasted no time funneling back into the building and the duo knew their time was limited because of the watchful eye of the guards on duty.

 

“You stay safe out there partner.”

 

Nick smiled at the uniquely caring tone, he had to admit it was beginning to grow on him. “Me?” he smirked “You're the one that went chasing crime lords, feral panthers and psycho sheep playing at Breaking Baaad. You stay safe,” Nick laughed as two made no rapid moves to being their marches inside.

 

\---

 

At first Judy didn’t know how to spend her free hour, twiddling her thumbs and remaining in her open cell as she did. The floors were locked and mammals from one floor weren’t permitted on another floor which benefited her two floors up from the cat that had made -not so subtle- threats against her life. The prison didn’t leave many options to pass the time, social programs to better a convicts life while incarcerated such as the penitentiaries library.

 

Judy spent part of her time surfing the web on her current predicament, a tacit hobby that several fellow prisoners shared apparently. Whenever Judy voiced her own false conviction it was received easily enough and returned with the stories of dozens of others who claimed similar results of a corrupt system. A taste of the other side of the law, the place her dream job dedicated to sending the unlawful. Article after article showed a surprising amount of support in the outside world, protests and angry individuals over the twos wrongful imprisonment, petitions to hasten the speed of the attorney general's office to respond or quickly overturn Brambles directed verdict.

 

Eventually it boiled down to Judy catching up on her reading, old series of crime thrillers and even a cursory skim over old textbooks that she remembered from college.

 

Constant contact with her family in phone calls whenever she could manage them and the visits from her newly found friends in the ZPD kept her sanity and had the effect of helping the two maintain access with outside information. Judy found her partner's ability to quickly gain access to information within the prison impressive, the two combined having themselves in as beneficial a position as they could, given their predicament surrounded by an unknown number of obstacles in the prisons staff. Nick even shared the importance of gossip in that regard. She hadn't thought much of it in the past but the confined space of the prison allowed the invisible nature of her often over abundant species to thrive. Judy realized just how transparent she was from the open way that any mammal in the compound spoke, her size and soft steps added in a passive reception of small discussions.

 

It wasn’t a pleasant hobby, as talks went, prison banter served to accent them as worse. But it did help to inform her of some of the comings and goings of other mammals, namely that Judy soon caught wind of two does in for smuggling talking about an auspicious ewe and her dealings with a pig officer who was known for trafficking certain items into the compound, primarily in the form of simple narcotics such as alcohol and cigarettes for the addicted inmates. This wasn’t fitting as no signs of either addiction seemed to plaque the admittedly calm and focused features of the enemy sheep as far as Judys memory could serve, part of her innocent image depended on it. However other more hushed tones told of the pig officer also managing to smuggle things such as knives.

 

Judy had to consciously remind herself to control the twitching pace of her nose as she realized she may have been running out of time. “What are you planning Bellwether?” Judy wondered with a furrowed brow as she stopped at her cell door, waiting a moment to think it over. Detailed searches of cells occurred weekly,  _ Four days left. _ Judy counted on a single paw as she now recognized the time until Bellwether would have to put her plan to motion if the former mayor had actually managed to get her hands on a weapon. Judy turned to enter her cell just out of the corner of her eye, “Or now!” She muttered to herself under her breath. There, marching the catwalk, was the impossible company of the devil spoke ewe herself and the untimely feline known as Beth just beside her. Judys heart began to race at the obviously threatening nature of the two encroaching mammals. Her eyes shot up and swiveled to the guards across her cell block in hopes of getting their attention, they were suspiciously absent.

 

“I got this, I got this!” Judy began the pep talk to herself, “You took down a rhino, you can handle a little bobcat!” Judy continued to affirm herself, despite the confidence she outwardly exuded, word of Beth's feats while incarcerated leant itself to a small bout of doubt that quickly eroded her self assurance. The maniacal, toothy smirks the two uniformly opposite mammals had dwindled her confidence further. Judy recalled her most recent run in with a less civilized mammal of the feline persuasion and readily doubled back to her response to a like incident with the previously savaged panther; Manchas.  _ Run,  _ Judy resolved in her head. But the moment she turned around her world was filled with a sudden layer of white.

 

“Oof!” Judy fell right back landing with a slight thud that echoed off the metal catwalk.

 

“Oh, sorry about that.” Responded a face silhouetted by the bright compound lights over her head as the white visage leaned over her.

 

Judys eyes furrowed with realization at the surprising familiar features that she had not expected. “Doctor… Honey?” Judy exclaimed cautiously.

 

The badger knelt quickly with a warm smile, “Surprised you remember me.” She said extending a hand to the small rabbit. Sure enough, from the new position Judy quickly confirmed the mammal in front of her from the badge on her coat. Further authenticated from the presence of two large guards off each of her shoulders. So Judy took her paw cautiously, to which the larger mammal quickly hoisted her back to her own two feet. “Are you with her?” Judy threw a thumb cautiously behind the very way she had began to run from, narrowing a glare at the possible additional assailant.

 

“Hm?” Honey looked confused, following the confusion Judy turned around to sight of two previously strident mammals now marching away with immediate purpose. This at least confirmed no camaraderie between Honey and Bellwether for the moment but did not absolve her of suspicion in its entirety.

 

“So why are you-”

 

“Miss Hopps, I was sent to come see you as there was concern about possible contamination with today's lunch. Your records show you have previous incidents of allergies with peanuts?”

 

Judy took a double take in confusion, “Well yea. Years ago when I was a kid, I haven’t-”

 

“Another inmate voiced complaints that you were experiencing possible inflammation and difficulty breathing. Respiratory problems possibly resulting from anaphylaxis demand our immediate attention.”

 

Judy noticed something was off, she looked back at the badge to find more clarification in the form of its title. Across it reading that she was in fact one of the woman's block medical staff. “I haven’t had allergic reactions since-”

 

“We're here to escort you to the medical wing to have your symptoms observed and subsequently treated.” A subtle urge to her voice caught Judy's attentions, barely at the edge of her perception. More then that was the wide stare the larger predator offered her as she held out a hand, palm up as she opened it slowly revealing the implicated nut itself in couple deshelled pieces of the offending allergen.

 

Judys furrowed expression deepened with caution as she marked the predators face with an important assessment at the sudden prospect in front of her now. “Trust me.” She whispered, either shoulder of her was the growingly suspicious looks of her accompanying guards.

 

“Why should I trust you?” Judy narrowed her vision back at the doctor.

 

“Because you two have more friends in here than you might think.” Honey said ominously.

 

“Both of us?” Judy asked.

 

“Nick is already in the infirmary waiting for you.”

 

Judy couldn’t find it, the small tells of a criminal in on the plan. Across the badgers expression was one of genuine concern and more than that was an understanding of this being her best chance in light of everything. So she took it.

  
  


\---

  
  
  


Nick was not a lucky fox, another muffled but all too familiar fist collided into his stomach. “Uhn!” Nick barked out in pain, muffled by a similar clovine hand across his mouth.

 

“Still conscious, good.” Came the threatening tone of Doug, sat with much the bored tone he had as the time Nick recalled infiltrating the train cart compound of Bellwethers formerly accomplished marksman. “I don’t want this to be over too quickly.” He mocked looking back over to the ram who stood poised to deliver another painful blow to Nick. “Another, Jesse.” Not a moment of hesitation as another fist collided right into Nick's stomach. The pain had grown with each subsequent impact as the skin just beneath his fur continued to pulse in pain, reminiscent of the previous punch that was then compounded by the following ones.

 

“Gah!” Nick's lungs wilfully expelled the painful sound but were confined by the grip of the additional ram.

 

“Keep him quiet Woolter.” Doug commanded, the two trained rams following suit without complaint or thought of their own. Nick hung uselessly in the tight grasp of Woolter, his larger frame easily allowing this motion in a single arm while the other held his mouth closed guaranteeing his time spent there would be maximized. Nick clung to consciousness, this wasn’t his first beating given his lifestyle. Nick took each breath in measured amount, air rushing back to his lungs with the desperate whistle of the intakes through his nostrils. Defiantly, he shot his eyes back open and glared through tired lids to mock the confident antics of his captor. Doug only smiled in response however. “Good!” And with that Nicks expression turned saddened. “I was hoping you would have a fighting spirit!” The mad flat stare of the criminal ram only worsened with an impossible grin that Nick couldn’t help but feel didn’t belong on such a species.

 

Another muted crack to his ribs and Nick felt the immediate expel of his lungs, his dangling legs recoiling in frail attempt to instinctively shrink into a fetal position at the pain only to knowingly return to dangling uselessly a moment later.

 

It was barely a single second that he felt the clovine hand move away from his mouth that he took a desperate, deep breath in, only to cough it right back up. The immediate expansion of his chest with each breath reminded him of the bruised muscles throughout the core of his stomach. His vision blurred, weather from the pain filled tears or his lapsing conscious mind didn’t matter. A sudden jostle of his vision had him looking at a similar white of wool, it took him a second or two to realize the hard finger on his chin forcing him to look up at his torturer. That same mad smirk on Doug's face.

 

“I’m glad I get to be the one that does this,” Ramses began with a sickly sweet tone. “You know Bellwether had about a dozen other plans in mind, poison, a knife she got from outside, strangulation. She even wanted it to look like an accident but your schedule kept changing so I figured ‘stop playing games.’ and here we are!” He boomed excitedly while gesturing around him. Nick continued to take in paced breaths, readying his lungs for what would become his desperate attempt to yell out for help. The concrete around him as drab as it was, was now his best hope at echoing his desperating in a last breath. One last deep breath in and-

 

“Mmph!” The same presence of a hooved hand around his mouth immediately shot that plan down.

 

Douglas only shook his head from side to side with a disappointed line of his lips, “Oh don’t do that. That would end our fun, I can’t have that.” The line of his lips upturning into a sickened smile again before a nod renewed the small pause of the pulsing pain in his stomach with a fresh one that snapped his vision to the side as the hard sinewed fist collided across his muzzle. A sharp yelp escaping him before the violent grasp held his mouth again. As sharp as his teeth were the natural traits of his captors in the forms of hardened clovine hands made his teeth useless in this moment. This time vision was blurred red with the presence of blood in his right eye. A byproduct of their environment, his assailing species grew naturally reinforced hands, their hooves made wondrously simple weapons for the blunt impressions they exhibited onto him. Nick felt every bit the unlucky fox he always called himself as each subsequent punch continued to addle his body with what would be short lived bruises under the layers of his stained red fur.

 

“Hahaha!” Came the dulled tones of laughter tapering the pauses of the three rams who knew all too well when to take a break to make sure he remained responsive and awake. Silhouetted in the light that cascaded into his cell from just beyond the open door had the three manic sheep's laughter accented like shadow puppets against his blurred vision.

 

Whatever fight he had left was quickly draining, leaving him as hapless a husk as he had felt only one other time in his life. A time with a green uniform when the same dismissive tones of laughter tore his world apart. He felt the moment poetic in its similarity in the way the tormentative prey held him in no regard of value.

 

Like some sort of child's book, the three laughing rams continued their antics for however long, Nick unable to tell time by this point, a useless gesture of counting his assailants.  _ One _ , WHACK! Another impact to his stomach.  _ Two _ , WHACK! This time straight across his skull.  _ Three,  _ one to the side of his body causing even his weak muscles to wince and recoil in renewed pain.  _ Four,  _ Nick readied for the next accented impact by the much larger mirage in his blood soaked vision… it never came. Nick couldn’t make out the new sounds that echoed the concrete room but did notice the closed smiles of his torturers. It confused his barely alert mind to no end, the world spun as he fell to the floor, landing unceremoniously against the concrete like a sack of potatoes caving under the pressure of its own weight. He welcomed the inherently cold state of the floor that soothed the bruises along his muzzle for whatever this amounted to. The amorphous blob of shadows in front of him continued to elude his admittedly reduced deductive abilities. He blinked away the blur and blood as best he could despite the cut above his eye and its accompanying bruise that swelled his lid shut.

 

The motion didn’t prove useless however as some lines drew to his vision, he could more easily make out the three smaller figures and a much larger one. Another sorrowful shut of his lids, this time on the precipice of dreamless sleep, only curiosity opened his eyes again to the welcome dissection of colors. Nick could now tell whatever this fourth figure to be was no friend to the other three, first hopeful thoughts of Carson; his captain and unwitting friend. This was quickly disproven by the presence of all four figures drabbed in the same color of jumpsuit.

 

Another painful press of his eyelids met with the same protest in opening at the welcoming prospect of sleep. Sounds were added barely at the edge of his attentions. “Grah!” mulled the deep sound of the larger figure as it thrashed with a fanged snarl. Gold was the newest color to catch his attention as his eyes shot to realization of the lion that now so clearly fought. The healthy lion was not the most skilled but the confined space made no form of helping the three rams fight him off. Savage rails of the lion’s fists collided in sickening cracks against the rams heads. There was less formality to them as the ones that struck Nick, these ones were immediate and followed through with enough force to send the smaller mammals back into each other, the wall or Nicks bunk a couple of times.

 

“We won’t forget this!” Ramses yelled, gurgling at the fresh taste of his own blood in his mouth as he fled, readily followed in tow by his untenable posse.

 

“I wouldn’t want you to!” Responded the unbelievable voice of Nicks savior. His hearing still challenging him as he couldn’t believe the mammal that had come to his rescue. Looking every bit the king of the jungle, the former cautiously turned Nick over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pages 9  
> Words 4,313  
> Characters 24,590  
> Characters excluding spaces 20,352
> 
> This chapter still needed a good alpha read over with dialogue changes. I tried out a slightly different method for the beginning and didn't end up liking it but never got around to editing it by the time it was canceled.


	4. (Formerly;) Prison Chapter 4: The Role of Recovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Judy is escorted to the clinic where Nick is recovering, surprises throughout the revelation of her allies in a most unexpected place. Clarity in the events that transpired over the last several months, her part in them and the guilt of her rookie mistakes but spirits are raised as an unlikely hero plays his part.
> 
> Bellwether is enraged by her in subordinates failures but her plans never end so easily... shes ready to put all her cards on the table.

(Formerly;) Prison Chapter 4: The Role of Recovery

  
  
  


Judy noted the starch white walls that strained her eyes in the way they drew her gaze to the door at its end. It narrowed her vision to focus with nothing else to draw her attention away from it, with the exception of a single supply closet closer on, only half way down the long hall. She was ushered there with either of the guards off the shoulders of her badger companion. Scents of bleach and antiseptic cleaners permeated the air with subtle artificial lemon attempting to help combat the more noxious smells for sensitive mammals.

 

“Right through here.” Honey said as she moved to hold the door open with some effort, inside was as much a makeshift facility as the funded jail would allow. A massive room opened with beds lining the walls along each side, doors interspersed every third or fourth one with the beds growing in size as the corridor continued on for larger inmates. Judys eyes trailed the bland colors until the most vibrant available hue caught her eye.

 

She immediately recognized the patterns of the dark browns and reds of his fur in a bed to the left and early on given his size. She darted forward, oblivious to the startled responses of the two guards who escorted her as a dangerous inmate just as much as a patient. Honey raised a hand to give them pause and assuage their instinctual responses to any suddenly running inmate.

 

Nick looked the worse for wear, Judy trying to convince herself that the devices attached to him from the heart beat monitor that beat steadily and strongly to the I.V. drip sat just behind that were not indicative of any immediate dangers. She stopped just beside the mass produced metal bed to look over her friend. Bandages wove around most of his visible body. Arms, legs even his chest having bandages seen just passed the hospital gown that had replaced the general inmate uniform. “Nick?” Judy said more softly as she approached cautiously, his eyes slowly moved to open.

 

“We administered some morphine to ease his pain. Once a steady flow of muscle relaxers takes place he’ll be more cognizant.” Honey assured as she approached from a position just beside the worried grey rabbit.

 

Nicks eyes at first winced at the light of the sanitized room but fought through that to settle on the rabbit he recognized. “Hey fluffs.” He said tiredly.

 

“What happened?”

 

It took Nick a good couple of seconds, each movement predominantly conflicted by the drug addled state of his body that caught up with him. Judy had seen dozens of brothers and sisters from her family in similar states after anything from tooth removal to broken bones. She knew to patiently wait out the slow pace caused from anesthesias.

 

“Ran out of luck.” He mumbled before giving an inebriated chuckle.

 

“He’ll be out of it for a little while.” The doctor affirmed.

 

“What happened?” Judy pivoted the question to the would be ally in a white coat.

 

“He was jumped by some prisoners in his cell, he's lucky to be alive.”

 

“Who did this to him?” She asked, though she already knew. Doug and his goons had been eying the fox since day one.

 

Honey shrugged, “We can’t say for sure, it wasn’t guards who found him.”

 

“Then who brought him here.” Judy inquired with a furrowed expression.

 

“Another inmate that was passing by... an old acquaintance actually.” Honey gave a knowing expression to the rabbit before looking to the divider that separated Nicks bed from the next one over.

 

“Ow!” Bellowed the beast on the other side. Fangs and a mane could be seen from the silhouette. “Careful with that needle, Nurse!” The lion protested.

 

“Oh stop complaining.”

 

“No way.” Judy began, moving around the divider, recognizing the impossible voice, but even staring at him she didn’t believe it. “Mayor Lionheart?!”

 

“Ow!” Bellowed the former mayor for as many times as the nurse administered a needle to his small cut. “Hello Officer.” He said with that same sickly sweet politicians voice, “It is a pleasure to see you again.” He looked to her jump suit, “Though I had hoped under different circumstances, hm?” The proud lion smirked before the ferret physician standing on the bed in an effort to reach up on the taller animal, “Oww!” elicited his response.

 

“Oh don’t be such a baby, I’m all done.” The nurse chidded before a quick snip of a small pair of scissors in her hand readily finished her work. She quickly bound down from the tall structure and collected some blooded gauze and topical anesthetic spray and made her way towards the front of the clinic.

 

“What has her in such a bad mood.” Leodore playfully seethed.

 

“She does have to put up with the scum of Zootopia everyday, which includes you Leo.” Honey was beside Judy again, it was surprising how quiet the badgers steps kept managing to be.

 

“I resent that statement Doctor.” He lacked for all sincerity in his tone before settling a glance back at the still baffled looking rabbit that stared at him.

 

“You saved Nick?” Judy managed the still confusing question.

 

Lionheart for his part matched her confused expression in kind. “Yea, is that really so hard to believe?” He raised a questioning brow.

 

“Yes!” Judys loud and boisterous response echoed off the concrete walls. “Last we saw of you was when we put you-”

 

“In here.” He quickly caught at the end of her sentence, nodding in the affirmative as he did. “I remember, it is kind of hard to forget.” He smiled almost jovially. Judy looked him over, even his jail uniform did little to diminish his appearance of authority and the drab walls didn’t take away from the incredibly prim and proper way he held himself together. Relaxed despite his current residence he laid across the smaller bed with both hands poised across his stomach with fingers interwoven in a stressless manor.

 

“But why?”

 

His look furthered into confusion, “I need a reason to help someone in need?” He sounded genuinely confused by the question.

 

“What, you think by helping Nick it's going to get your time reduced or something? That's not going to happen, you kidnapped those animals sir and nothing is going to-”

 

“Change that?” He finished again, his confusion had turned into a look of  _ disdain _ ,  _ disappointment _ ? Whichever it was that Judy failed to place, he offered a gruff sound of dismissal before swiping plainly at the air. “You really blame me for that?

 

“Of course!?” Judy spat back at the convicted former mayor.

 

“Well they don’t.” Lionheart said pointedly, leaning from where he sat on the bed until his back nestled against the wall for support, both hands coming to rest along his stomach with his thumbs beginning to fidget. “None of the mammals I had detained and taken to the asylum, none of them blame me you know. In a class action lawsuit they all dropped any charges placed against me.”

 

“So your lawyers managed to-”

 

“Do nothing.” Lionheart interrupted with more agitation in his voice this time around. “While the investigation was underway for my actions as mayor all my accounts were locked up. I had to face their combined class action suit by self representation. I wasn’t even granted a city representative attorney since it was a civil suit.” He barely managed to curl his lips into a tired smile before it fell away. “No I just had to talk to them myself. I did what I did to protect this city-”

 

“You were only protecting your job!” Judy quickly hopped up onto the larger animals bed not hesitating to surge forward with an accusatory finger pointed towards him. “Protecting your image as mayor!”

 

“Yes!” He sat up and forward, the natural display of his teeth coming to the forefront. It took him all of a second before he corrected this sudden outburst. “Yes.” He said more calmly. “Because i’m a predator. How do you think it would have reflected on the city hm? A predator mayor with predators all losing control suddenly, without warning. You already know how that ended up don’t you?” It was his turn to point a finger at Judy. “Correct me if I’m wrong but which one of us ended up furthering Bellwethers plans more, hm?” He smirked.

 

Judy was incredulous, baffled for a moment as she was put on the spot. “I didn’t mean-I didn’t know-I was trying to help them.” Judy fumbled.

 

“So was I! I appropriated thousands upon tens of thousands of dollars to try and find a cure, to find out what was happening. To keep this city from tearing itself apart and to keep an already fragile peace. Tell me Officer, what happened after you caught me, how much better were things?”

 

Judy already knew the answer to that. The number of animals Bellwether darted grew exponentially over the next few months and riots occuring after the outset of her own statements made public at that fabled press conference just a few months prior.  _ He's right.  _ Judy thought, the truth was that she had unwittingly played into the ewes hand.

 

“That still doesn’t change what you did, you kidnapped them.”

 

“And what was the alternative, please tell me officer? Allow the public to know and fear predators just like Bellwether wanted? Leave them in a hospital no different than when they were at the asylum? I did everything I could to try and solve the problem. Yes I ended up breaking a few laws but I did it for the right reasons. You of all mammals should understand, you would do the same-”

 

“I would not.” Judy spat in response.

 

Lionheart wore that same smug grin. “Oh really? Last I heard you are in here for illegal vigilantism, destruction of public property and reckless endangerment.” Lionheart furrowed his brow as he tapped a clawed digit along his chin. “Come to think of it that stint with the train endangered more mammals than I ever did, maybe even more than Bellwether if the news was right. Had your little move with that train collided with that cargo train, the damages would have been in the millions and the train could have derailed and killed dozens if not more.”

 

Judy’s mouth just hung loose at this knowing information. “That wasn’t what I meant to happen, we were being chased.”

 

“Exactly” Lionheart said proudly, “You broke a few laws to do the right thing. Sure there were risks but in the end and for this one situation, the ends justifies the means didn’t they?”

 

“What?”

 

“Well, you found the villain and uncovered the conspiracy. You found out it was Midnacamping-hopsis? Mydacampi-holisis-”

 

“Midnicampum holicithias.” Judy corrected the stammering Lion.

 

“That!” He snapped, “Thank you...” He cleared his throat. “In the end you saved the day, all thanks to me.” He said sitting straight and proud.

 

“You?”

 

He laughed again, “Did you already forget who it was that made you a police officer?” Lionheart proded though Judy readily knew despite an urge to ignore that simple fact. “After all it was my bill that passed, the ‘Mammal Inclusion Initiative.’ the cornerstone of my campaign that resulted the first, ever, rabbit Officer. I would say that's a pretty good outcome.”

 

He was right, he was right and every bit of Judy hated that fact. The truth was that her dreams were made possible by the very first mammal she put behind bars.

 

“Ironic really, I made your dreams possible and you took me down within a few days. Lifes funny that way. Oh and you embarrassed the good doctor.” He pointed to the quiet badger.

 

“Hey, you try to make due with the equipment you got me. I didn’t have the necessary machinery to take scans of their brains or test the chemical composition of their cerebral fluid.” Honey defended.

 

“Oh, I understand. I’m not blaming you Honey, just stating the facts. Country rabbit suddenly figuring out what doctors and lab geeks couldn’t figure out for months.”

 

“Acting mayor Bellwether didn’t seem the least bit interested in allocating city funds towards finding out, coincidence that.” Honey rolled her eyes to which Lionheart nodded personably in response.

 

Judy looked from one of the two mammals to the next. “Aren’t you two angry?”

 

The two looked back to her with their own looks of confusion, “Why would we be?” Lionheart was the first to ask this question.

 

“Because I put you in here.” Judy pointed to Lionheart, “And you…” Judy paused at the badger.

 

“Were no longer able to work at any respectable medical facility with a tarnished reputation.” Honey seemed to lack the same decorum of the former mayor as a venom managed into her voice more readily than that of the king of the jungle.

 

“Yes… that.” Judys ears had long since sank with a ready guilt. “Why would you both help us?”

 

“Because we should.”

 

Judy looked back at the two, one to the other with her same lack of understanding.

 

“It was the right thing to do. You did save this city, oh and him.” Lionheart pointed a thumb to the fox just on the other side of the divider.

 

“Helloooo.” Responded Nick from his spot just beyond it, waving comically slow from the dim shadow that cast against the nylon fabric.

 

The three managed to laugh at the sadly displaced state of the assailed fox. It was a weird and strangely foreign feeling to laugh with the tension the two faced day in and day out since coming unjustly to the compound they were now. The laughter died in her throat as its meaning began to weigh on her.

 

“Thank you.” She managed.

 

Honey hummed to her left, a sound similarly rumbled from the lion reclined to her right. “Hm?”

 

“For helping Nick… for helping me.”

 

The large lion hummed appreciably for a short moment. “Bah, think nothing of it.” He bellowed waving dismissively at Judy.

 

The amiable silence only lasted a few moments before-

 

“Alright, alright, alright!” Honey stepped forward, “Now get out of here Lionheart.”

 

“But I’m a patient.” Leodore protested half heartedly.

 

“Oh stop whining you big baby, your cut was so shallow you could hardly call it more than a scratch.”

 

Leodores lion like voice caught the air in the booming laughter he exhibited now, his head tilted back with the heft of his open amusement. “So cruel doctor, no sympathy for this story's hero?” He returned an expression to the badger that held his picturesq smirk.

 

“Yea, yea, yea. Stop being so melodramatic.”

 

Lionheart still chortled lightly, Judy couldn’t help the almost infectious conditions that had her smiling and barely managing to avoid laughing openly herself.

 

“Alright doc, I’ll get moving.” Lionheart conceded, rolling over to the side of the bed, little effort for a mammal of his size unlike Judy.

 

“What about the sheep?” Judy quickly moved to intercept the former mayor.

 

“Hmm?” Lionheart added with a natural confusion.

 

“Bellwether, Doug or his goons?” Judy gesticulated in concern for the sudden ally and any time outside the safe confines of the recovery center.

 

“Oh, they won’t mess with me.” Lionheart said with a confidence that confused her. Lionheart gave a contested groan as he sat forward to stand from the bed, a direction already set in his facing towards the exit. “Something would have to truly be wrong with the animal kingdom if the lion began to fear the sheep… right?” He raised a self assured brow at the former officer.

 

“Right.” Judy confirmed, not matching his own outward confidence in her reserved tone. It didn’t seem to phase him however as he began his paces for the door.

 

“You stay safe now Officer Hopps, I don’t imagine you will be in here much longer, hm?” the hum settled closer to a growl from the larger species, a natural occurrence that still felt all the more impressive in the way it raised her spirits. There was something innately inspiring about the animal that often still referred to itself as the King of the Jungle and how his confidence in her helped her find her own. “Keep my city safe, thats an order.”

 

“Yes sir.”

 

One of the two previous guards came to the side of the inmate, ready to escort him from the premise and back to his cell as far as Judy could assume.

  
  


\---

 

“Ugh,” Doug groaned, stopping the motion from carrying away his unprofessional figure. Nursing the wounds from the claws and more importantly the purpled bruises that still accented the throbbing headache. As hard as the rams head was, a good strike from the much larger lion did a good number as he was now well aware.

 

“Lionheart!?” Came the voice just parallel of his own.

 

“How many times do I have to say it. It was Leodore.” Doug groaned in annoyance. A grumbling could be heard from the ewe opposite of him and just past the chain link fencing.

 

“Why would that big, dumb cat stick his nose in my business.” Bellwether complained, clenching her hooves together in anger.

 

“How am I supposed to know?”

 

“You’re supposed to find out!” Bellwether glared at the subordinate ram from where she paced back and forth on her side of the fenced off yard. “Alright, calm down.” Bellwether said to herself, attempts to cool her flaring temper.

 

“At least you got that bunny, what's one fox going to matter?” Doug mocked.

 

“We didn’t.”

 

“What? But I thought you spent, like a week talking that Beth cat into doing the deed?” Doug took the moment to look passed the chain fence to his former and current employer. He regretted it, as small as she was her tantrums towards insubordination were understood.

 

“I payed off the block captain and managed to get Beth to ‘disappear’ during her laundry duty. I got cell block rotation timed just right so that no guards or cameras would have even seen us on her floor.”

 

“Then what happened? Your plans usually go off without much of a hitch?” Doug prodded. Bellwether for her part had the set of her hooven fingers working circles along her temples. As likely a gasket to explode as she was at the failure of both of them at getting their respective targets.

 

“A doctor showed up, took her to the infirmary with a couple of tiger guards.”

 

“You didn’t have them on payroll?”

 

“They worked the central building, they shouldn’t have been there. I can’t pay off the whole building Douglas.”

 

“Right, right.” he nodded. “But why did one of the medical staff collect the rabbit, was she sick or something?”

 

“I don’t know.” Bellwether threw her arms into the air. “Maybe she was pregnant for all it matters with dumb bunnies. Once the guards and the badger doctor showed up we high tailed-”

 

“Badger?” Doug quickly interrupted. “The doctor was a badger?”

 

“Yes, like I said. Now don’t interrupt. Then we left, we couldn’t.”

 

“Ma’am, it was a badger. You’re sure?” Ramses interjected again.

 

Bellwether scolded the larger ram with a warning glare but was calm enough to recognize more emphasis in his question. “Yes, I’m sure. Why?”

 

“Lionheart was the one that stopped me and the guys from dealing with your fox. You remember his asylum where he kept the ones I was darting?”

 

“Yes.” Bellwether said plainly, encouraging him to continue with her continued glare.

 

“His head of medical staff was that badger doctor by the name ‘Honey’ who got a job here to complete her community service for her part in Lionhearts operation.”

 

Bellwethers expression finally abated to one of clarity. “They played us.”

 

Doug nodded, “Mhm, makes sense now. Lionheart must have sent the good ol’ doctor to pick up your rabbit officer once he had seen what we did to the fox.” Ramses concluded sounding all the more proud of his deduction as he came to it.

 

Bellwether looked similarly clarified by this but her expression settled on the larger ram with her glower renewed. “And the plan would have gone off without a hitch if you had just stuck to it!” She seethed. “But you just had to disobey me and play with your fox!” Bellwether stomped, it was a meaningless gesture as she lacked any heft behind the motion. But still, it carried the severity of her annoyance at her henchman without mistake.

 

“Yes ma’am, sorry ma’am.” Doug subsumed.

 

“You deviate from my plan just one more time and I will replace you.”

 

Doug furthered into a look not unlike a scolded child, the grass taking a great deal of his interest in the way he looked at it. “But they are both in the medical ward, like you said you don’t have any guards payed off over there. How are we going to get to them now?” Doug asked curiously.

 

“I had my girl on the outside get us some ‘tools’ for the next phase.”

 

“That pig prison guard?”

 

“Mhm, Swinton.” Bellwether confirmed, Doug nodded. “Woolter would be collecting the ones meant for your side of the prison during his turn at lunch duty today and would pass them to you all during your trays if you had just stuck to the plan.” Bellwether seethed again, Doug as ever sinking inwards at his failure. “There is a search in two more days if we're lucky.”

 

“Two days left?”

 

Bellwether shook her head from side to side. “Tomorrow.” She said low and cautiously.

 

“Tomorrow?”

 

This time she nodded with a devilish smile, “You’ll know when. I’ll make sure everything's in place. Just know that when it happens I want you and all your boys to make your way to the clinic rooms. Look for the floor assigned to the good doctor and get rid of those two.”

 

Every bit the dark foreboding shadow, it even horrified Doug every now and again. So for his part he simply nodded. “Tomorrow.” He confirmed with a professional noded.

 

“Tomorrow.” Bellwether returned the same nod of her head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really liked how this ones dialogue ended up, it was one I had thought about since October of 2016 when I first had that "debate." I wanted to emphasis just how I saw it when I watched the movie. For all the good our beloved heros did, its easy to forget that a grey area in their decisions remains. The dangers they, themselves caused and the damages they did even to the innocent.
> 
> Chapter 5 was planned to be the end point of this mini fic formerly for Cimars What_If project. I'll take a cursory look over it, I think it made it to roughly 80% completion but it had a ways to go. Hope you guys enjoyed this journey so far.
> 
> Anyway, here is a list of other canceled projects or plans with summaries.
> 
> Legend of Ro'hk: Canceled post sentient fic centering around a tribe of the first sentient mammals as they learn how to cultivate but face the constant threat of predators (who still lack sentience) and stumble upon the first sentient predator, a massive bear that is known as "Rock." Main characters being Bucky and Pronk ancestors who-while walking a river bank stumble upon the ancient bear who speaks to them as hes starving to death due to old age. This fic would center around a recent attack by wolves that causes "Pronk" to ask the bear if he had the will to fight. Summary; They pay the bear in food as a means of him protecting their fields and people - This story was first planned in october of 2016 as an homage to "Rabbit Clans Fox" by Boney_M (This was one of the vote options early on in Zokugawa)
> 
> Legend of Ro'hk 2: Bunny and a Beast; Canceled post sentience fic that centers around a tribe of ascended rabbits (roughly the fiftyth species to fain sentience) as they plan trade with local rabbit tribes to prepare for an expected raid by packs of wolves (still non-sentient) and how they meet this challenge given their smaller sizes. This stories main character "Judy Hopps" equivelant follows a sort of ancient style of Beauty and the Beast movie style with my own twists and concepts following my head canon of how I imagine evolution in this disney world design. Rabbit meets fox in yet another Homage to Rabbit clans Fox.
> 
> Mammal in the Shell, Animal Complex: Ghost in the Shell themed Zootopia fic for the fun of it. Judy as "Major Hopps." as a Kusanagi equivelant with characters like Wolford as Saito and Bogo as Aramaki equivalent. Nick with a unique role as WLD an AI replacment for the Tachikoma. This was a qwirky one I had planed (like most of the ideas I came up with) since october 2016 (this was a vote option in Zokugawa)
> 
> War Z: Canceled fic centering around a zombie themed post apocolyptic Zootopia. This story starts roughly one-(unknown) year(s) after the events of Zootopia the movie with one change that cascades. Judy never became an officer because the Mammal inclusion initiative never passed. In this story it opens with Judy on her farm as a horde of "Savage" animals attacks, unknown to the mindless creatures is that the rabbits planned regular ambushes to deal with the creatures. After "___" bad thing happens she leaves for Zootopia on a poorly maintained Zootopia line train. This was a unique story I had planned that was actually closer to a "Pick your own adventure" style thing where readers (commenters) would actually decide how Judy progresses in an effort to find a cure for the "Savage" outbreak. Readers would decide based off a previous chapter how Judy would progress and could lead her to stumbling into other survivors, example she begins her search in Central Zootopia, maybe she stumbles into and saves Clawhauser (entry level character allowing Judy to eventually meet with Bogo with unique dialogue etc.)


	5. A Lone Tonight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Climate wall failure leads to a busy day for the ZPD, Nick and Judy leaving for their cold nights off before Judy has sudden extra work but eventually she makes her way to her bed for the night.

A Lone Tonight

  
  


“Ughh,” Judy announced disdainfully, the way she slouch where she stood, not enough energy to keep her characteristically upright ears from drooping tiredly alongside her arms.

 

“You alright there fluffs?” came the same singsong voice of her partner; Nick, off her left shoulder. She responded with a dramatically callus narrowing of her lids in the scowl that she shot him; The very same one he had mocked ‘ _ did little _ ’ in the affection of her species as ‘ _ cute. _ ’

 

“How do you do it?”

 

“Hmm?” His nonchalant response. She looked him over, attentive of the somewhat unkempt appearance of the red fox. His uniform was the same as earlier that morning, barely within regulation with the rolled sleeves held just passed his elbows with inner links or the loose tie around his neck.

 

Judy waved a hand up and down towards him, gesturing to the whole of the otherwise unaffected fox. “How can you just… be just fine?” Nick raised a cocky but proud brow in response, Judy gruffed. “You know what I mean, you don’t look tired at all.”

 

To this he at least shrugged, “You just have to know how to take it easy.” He stated plainly as if it were the simplest thing in the world, he leaned back with his arms behind his head and gave a similarly relieved sigh.

 

“You mean lazy.”

 

“Hey, I handed out just as many blankets as you, maybe even more I reckon.” Nicks smarmy midwestern response that followed his smirk. “Work smarter Carrots, not harder.”

 

Judy returned her scowl with somewhat greater intensity this time, “Hey, my furs not as thick as yours, your better suited for-”

 

“Nuh, uh, uh.” Nick tisked with a wagging finger as if he were scolding a child. “You rabbits handled snow just as much as foxes, your uniform choice is your problem.” He said pointedly, Judy looking her own attire up and down then back at Nicks.

 

“This is what I always wear and other than your hideous pawain shirts thats your usual uniform.” Judy retorted but Nick shook his head with the same smug expression.

 

“Except it isn’t.” He said plainly, earning the confused tilt of his rabbit partners head. “This is roughly 50% wool, and unlike your… what 30% neoprene-”

 

“How did you-”

 

“Mine excels at traping my body heat, your one uniform choice doesn’t offer as much resistance to the cold as my uniform.” He finished with a slight expression of the fabric of his collar, despite the nearly identical color as Judy looked at it closer the fabric did reveal itself to be a lot thicker than she had remembered it.

 

“Well my uniform works just fine normally, the climate wall isn’t meant to be on the fritz, Slick.” She ended with an intentional sharp sound made through the grin of her teeth.

 

Nick nodded, “Which is why I worked smarter, not harder. Having a spare uniform that better fits the climate like this one for when the cold gets even colder in tundra town or my  _ hideous _ pawain shirts for the Saharah just helps me address wherever we may be working on the day.” Judy just scowled, pursing her lip as useless as she did, did little at conveying her mild unrest for her partners smarmy attitude in that instant and for all it matter only made her appear more defeated as the two stood there.

 

All around them animals were talking in low droll hums and in loud booming comradery, a scene drabbed in a sea of blue polyester and cottons there in the foyer of Precinct One; Exhaustion mixed with excitement as the weekend for many of the officers rounded their equivalent fridays. From the largest elephant in Bob, having spent the better part of twelve hours dealing with a pile up off S95 or ‘ _ The Scurry Freeway, _ ’ as it had come to be known. To Judy who spent a similarly inordinate amount of time in tundra town helping with the community outreach program by handing out blankets and hot cocoa while the city dealt with a rather dramatic failure in its climate wall. Each were happy to be done with their days and have the opportunity to head home and sleep away whatever remained of their nights.

 

“Time to catch up on a little beauty sleep,” Pronounced Nick. Judy looked up to the taller figure, the devilish turn of his longer snout drawing the pleasant smile across his features as he stretched his arms over his head with an audible set of clicks as he did, ending with a satisfied sigh as he relaxed back into place.

 

“One day off might not be enough for you.” She jabbed lightly at his midsection, the beginnings of a smirk crossing her own shorter muzzle. Brow raised, Nick looked down from the angle at his partner through a competent half-lidded and smugly held smile that put her own defiant attempt to shame.

 

“Ohhh, that's just mean.” He laughed along with her for a short moment. “Any word when its going to be fixed?” He asked, knowing about her current situation, a feature of her ‘glorified closet of an apartment’s’ broken central heating furnace giving out in the cold climate when its propage lines froze over.

 

Judy shrugged “No.” She said plainly, “Mr. Brunsdon still-”

 

“Who?” Nicks head turned.

 

“The repair mammal, Mr. Brunsdon who works for the property management came out again this morning.” Judy explained thinking over the low hanging lip of the slightly chubby brown bear. The bears posture and sluggish behavior didn’t help alleviate the thought in her head that the grizzly didn’t actually have much of an interest in repairing the furnace. “He probably just wants to hibernate.”

 

“Hm?” Suddenly Judy was brought out of her sudden inner monologue, realizing she had said the last part out loud.

 

“No, I didn’t say-” She turned to the knowing expression of her partner.

 

“Why Carrots, are you profiling species again.” He gave a dramatic intake of breath with a wide eyed and dropped jaw. “Hopps, how could you! Not all brown bears want to just hibernate in the cold.” he poked fun.

 

“Uggh,” Judy groaned, pulling her ears over her face in a frail attempt to put the slight barrier between the cruel school yard styled antics of Nick's usual banter and herself. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

 

Nick shook his head a couple of times with dramatic flare, “No but I understand. He does like to sleep in a lot.” Judy came to a full stop suddenly.

 

“Wait you know him?” She furrowed a brow.

 

He gave a slight shrug, “Did you forget?” Judy rolled her eyes when she realized, “I know-”

 

“- _ Everybody _ ’ yea, yea.” Judy ended with a concerted roll of her eyes. “So?”

 

“He lives in my building.” Nick tapped a clawed digit over his lower lip with a concentrated look across his face as he did. “You should see how quickly he scarfs down a bucket of chicken.”

 

Judy wore a look of disgust. “I’ll take your word for it.”

 

“Well, from my few dealings with the mammal... You probably have a few more days until he gets around to actually repairing anything.”

 

“Oh sweet cheese and crackers, I swear I woke up with icicles on my ears this morning.” Judy resounded with annoyance. Long days and long hours taking their toll and the thought of another night with the thin bed she had didn’t put any more ease on her already weary frame.

 

“I would invite you to stay over at my place for a couple of days but its not really any better off than your place.”

 

“I thought your building was far enough from the river ways to avoid the cold front?” Judy inquired, sure that as far as she understood the drafting paths of the cold fronts didn’t include his apartment.

 

“Yea but the buildings furnace doesn’t vent to the room itself.”

 

Judy nodded dramatically. “That's right, your apartment is literally just the maintenance room of your building, retrofitted. Is it still so bad that it could condemned for building safety violations?” Judy put her hands on her waist as she smirked precariously.

 

Nicks ears flattened against the back of his head with his eyes opening wide, “Woah Officer Hopps. Just because your heating is broken doesn’t mean you have to get me evicted from my place and thrown out into the cold.”

 

It was Judy's turn to laugh triumphantly. “That's what you get for making fun of my apartment-”

 

“-Its small.” Nick interrupted.

 

“Its quaint.” Judy defended.

 

Nick raised an eyebrow, “Quaint? Officer Hopps, it doesn’t have a bathroom, closet, cooking space. It is so small that I don’t think it could even be considered a study.”

 

“Well I like it. I’m a rabbit, Nick, we don’t need much space.”

 

Nick nodded with complicity, “A very pragmatic species; Rabbits. how many siblings do you have again? Ohff!” This earned another swift elbow from the small rabbit. “Anyway, you planning on grabbing something to eat before you head home?”

 

Judy shrugged, outside the large windows that made up the face of the spectacle that was Precinct One. Despite the bright lights inside she could still make out the starkly contrasting night just outside the barrier, an innate shiver crept up her spine when she remembered just how cold it was there in the heart of Zootopia. Judy placed a finger to her chin, “I've been craving a salad from  _ The Dunes? _ ”

 

“They closed at Ten-o'clock today.” Nick corrected with a finger pointed towards the large foyer clock as its hands ticked slowly along.

 

“Dang it.” She said noting it was half past midnight, well past the closing time of the favorite hot spot of many a prey mammal. “What about a smoothie from  _ The Tiki Hut _ , they don’t close until One A.M.” Judy nodded her head.

 

Nick shook his own in response. “They close early because of piping issues with the steam tree just across the street from them. The cold and the humidity has been making business slow so they cut back their hours.” He finished somberly, he noticed the sudden fall of his partners shoulders in defeat in the heavy slouch she exhibited.

 

“Probably a microwave meal then for tonight.” She conceded in a low tone, her ears hanging lifelessly off either of her shoulders.

 

Even Nick had to cringe outwardly with a disgusted look in the showing of his teeth. “That hardly counts as a meal.”

 

“Well, what about you? Something from  _ Mistys on the Vine  _ like a Buggy Burger?” She watched the same look return to his expression as when he imagined her own idea of a dinner.

 

“Hard pass, their fruit is pretty fresh and they have some of the ripest local tomatoes.”

 

Judy scoffed, “Still no comparison from my family's produce.”

 

“ _ Locally _ .” Nick reiterated clearly, “Do you ever think that maybe, just maybe, you might have been a little spoiled when it comes to fresh fruit growing up on an all organic farm?”

 

Judy raised a warning brow, “Spoilt? I just can’t help if I have enough standards to want my fruit to taste like fruit and vegetables like vegetables.” She ended with a curt but defiant nod.

 

“Minus the microwave mini carrot midnight meals?” Nick fired back much to the scowl that was returned his way.

 

“Touche.”

 

Nick smiled with a proud turn of his lips that spanned the length of his sharp muzzle, “And for the record, on those rare days I cheat my vegetarian diet. I’ll most likely grab something fresh from  _ Halibuts  _ over some… bug burger.” He visibly shivered. Judy rolled her eyes, despite the strict diet that Nick surprisingly claimed to maintain she knew a number of the predators in her life had a favorite in the form of one bug product or another.

 

“I never understood why you dislike-” She was suddenly cut off.

 

A large and lumbering elephant in the form of bob had taken only a couple of steps along the plaza to catch up to the two who idly chartered just next to the precincts front entrance. “Hey Officer Hopps!” He boomed in an effort to catch her, unaware that their banter had kept them from leaving for a good couple of minutes so far.

 

“Oh, no.” Judys slouch returned as she pulled her ears over her face. “No, no, no, no, no.”

 

Bob was caught not far from the two but still just behind Fangmeyer who was conversing with Snarlov about something just out of earshot, “Hopps!” He shouted again.

 

“No, no, no.” She repeated just under her breath enough that it had almost begun to sound reminiscent of an incantation as if willing it, that the lumbering physical aspect of the massive elephant would cease to exist in her current reality.

 

Heavy steps confirmed the large mammals final approach, “Hopps.” He finally spoke more softly as he stood just beside the two now.

 

“Yes, Officer Trumpet.” Judy almost seethed. Nick felt the agitation radiate off his already tense partner.

 

Bob caught his breath for a moment, as lumbering as his size was to heft was directly correlated to how many breaths he needed after the short but urgent jog, “Mrs. Mabel needs you.”

 

It was almost painful the way Judy tugged her ears over her face this time, her teeth grit tightly just between the two. “And just what does she need me for.”

 

“Errors in last weeks tickets submissions.” Trumpet answered happily enough, seeming to utterly miss the dismay and pain of his fellow officer, a common trait for the larger mammals on the force and their naturally occurring lack of sympathy towards creatures no bigger than their toes.

 

Nick matched the happily tone in a more active participation in his laughter, “Ughhh.” Judy ended as she threw her hands frantically over her head before turning back the way they had so slowly originated from.

 

“Put a delay on that midnight carrot delicacy?” Nick shouted with his cupped hands.

 

“Shut it Wilde!” She spat back, earning that same predictable narcissistic laughter.

 

“Want me to wait up for you?”

 

Judy shook her head from side to side, “It could take thirty minutes to an hour with her filing methods, no reason for both of us to miss out on that much sleep.” She nodded, “No, you go home and enjoy your night off.”

 

“You sure?” He asked, she nodded. With a single sympathetic nod of his own the two parted ways. Judy trudged more than walked with any level of professional expression in her body language.

 

“Shes in-”

 

“Archives.” Judy interrupted, not that there was ever much guess where the head of ticketing spent most of her nights. ‘ _ This won’t take long. _ ’ Judy confirmed to herself with a breath in as her lungs filled with a willed sense of relief and then exhaled with much the same artificial sense of calm. ‘ _ Get in, correct the filing numbers, out in thirty minutes! _ ’

  
  


\---

  
  


The doors of precinct one shot open violently but only their smallest officer was present in that act. Judy's expression with her lower jaw held forward and her brow in a nearly permanent flat fixture of agitation. “Stupid Mabel, ‘ _ fill out section B with’  _ blah, blah, blah!” she muttered.

 

“Night officer Hopps.” Responded one of the night shifts other tiger officers as he was passing her on his way inside.

 

She waved flatly over her shoulder barely even acknowledging the other patrol mammals existence as she crossed paths. She was way past running on fumes as she walked now, bunny jesus have mercy on any animal that tried to stay between her and a good night's sleep now.

 

“Dumb… David.” She mumbled, this time in regards to the short notice replacement for the graveyard shifts dispatch. She didn’t really mean anything by it or really blame the new lion officer. The original dispatcher having called in sick left the new officer out of his element for his first time dispatching. Thankfully (or unappreciative) Judys time hanging out with Clawhauser had meant passively picking up on his routine. Another hour and he had it well enough in hand and Judy was finally on her way home.

 

“Dumb train.” A weary rabbit continued on her nihilistic outlook of the day as she sat there on Peak Street station, abandoned save for a couple of homeless mammals making use of the lots many large benches. Looking up at the clock for the train that now ran slower for the few early hours of the morning it was just the latest obstacle between her and home.

 

Usually confined; Judy had all the elbow room she needed as she stared blankly at the clock that was present in her train car. “Dumb clock.” She seethed as the minute hand threatened half past two, she glared at it, willing the digital device to stop blipping in an inane effort to reclaim some of her lost night. The train sped on with the usually impressive sight of downtown zootopia brightly lit against the backdrop of night with its extensive displays of lights.

 

“Dumb city.” Gruffed her response to the otherwise awe inspiring sight, as fast as the train was she knew that her apartment in Savanna Central was still a ways off, having to come to usual stops along the Fruit Market, Hill and Trip Street stations and a short pass through the Rainforest district until the Inner Loop stopped at the closest one to her home in Pack Street Station.

 

The train finally came to a gentle stop with its latest ambivalence in the grey clouds that began to loom overhead with the parallel riverside street “Great, dumb clouds.” She said in lead of her final treck home, part of her still worried that somehow, someone had something else for her to do before she could finally get home. This same thought haunted her, set her fur on edge in the way it shifted with any present sound in the night life around her. This stayed with her ever last step up to the very ones that planted firmly in front of an all familiar old wooden door. “Finally.” The feeling finally began to fade as the reality of being home set in with the sensation of the door knob in her hand as the keys prattled in her other. The door creaked open as she contested the sound with a relieved sigh that seemed to alleviate the tension to the depth of her bones. She no longer had any sensation or tension of any mammal around her, ironically at the very instant this instinct would have been right. She closed her eyes to the darkness, knowing every inch of her apartment she took two steps to the outcropped shelf just past the entrance.

 

“Dumb Bogo.” She said in a more tired voice than at any point throughout the night, less important was anyone's actual involvement on her night as opposed to just her right to be exhausted in that instance. The buckles of her vest unhinged with a satisfying click, the loss of their weight being a pleasant one as she handily attached it to a hanger then hung it just in front of a gaudy orange vest alongside the same place on the wall. As she stretched with a deep breath in, she finally caught the first realizations that she wasn’t alone there in her apartment. Subtle smells swept her olfactory senses. Her eyes opened quickly and set on misplaced objects on her desk, one tall and cylindrical and the other still rounded but flat and square, still greatly visible as they caught the moons light from the windows just beside them.

 

Judy began to smile softly as she recognized them alongside a slight movement in the bed just beside them. The drink of some sort of smoothie with condensation having formed around it for some time and the plastic take away tray beside it. A slight movement in the bed just across from the small offerings as Judy approached had her smile deepening. “Dumb fox.” She whispered tenderly as there in the dark her eyes slowly began to adjust to the hues of auburn and orange.

 

This prompted the slightest movement of the sleeping foxes ears as they directed themselves towards the voyering rabbit. Still asleep they followed the quietly moving officer as she poised herself between the bed and desk, in her own way stalking. Putting just the slightest weight along the bed as she cautiously clamored up onto the bed, closer to her partner where he slept so soundly along her bed. Nick softly breathed in and out, the sound just barely like a snore. She wasn’t sure what to do next now that she was there, sitting on the bed just beside him, a half dozen ideas of pranks passed through her mind. As she sat there, each one melted away in the utterly defenseless and tired expression he wore while asleep. Something she rarely witnessed in the softening of the sharp edges on the mask he wore so often to the outside world. So, despite every right to  _ get back  _ at her partner she found her hand beginning to absentmindedly petting along his relaxed features. His ears were gently caressed back along his head as her paw softly stroked them, they came right back up less and less each time she soothed them back. Then along his cheeks, earning a similar result from the thin whiskers there and finally along the shorter fur of his muzzle.

 

“Hmm?” Groaned the soft sound as the similarly exhausted canide finally woke from his deep sleep. His eyes opened cautiously, even for his species night vision it was taking them a moment to adjust to the dim light but finally settling on the rabbit that loomed over him with a smug expression. “Ten more hours Carrots,” He chidded. To Judy's surprise his face fell into something akin to his trademark half lidded expression but softer at its edges with his eyes falling back behind their lids. His long muzzled smile expressed itself gladly as her smaller paw still gently stroked along it.

 

“Good morning sunshine.”

 

“Just because the clock say ‘A’ and ‘M’ does not mean its morning.” He took a deep breath in as his eyes opened slightly, instead of looking to her they shot towards the window where a small digital clock blipped in and out. His brows furrowed, “Is that Three- what happened Judy?” He began to get up with some small sliver of concern.

 

“Hey, hey, hey.” She eased him back down, soothing his sudden attempt to wake up. “Just a couple other patrol mammals on the graveyard crew needing some help.”

 

Nick nodded, “That explains. I tried to stay awake to surprise you, but you were taking a while.” He pointed to the desk, “I got you dinner.”

 

Judy laughed very quietly. “Yea, I saw that. Smoothie from The Tiki Hut?”

 

“Yea, called in a favor. Nocturnal mammals deli was the best I could do for the salad on the south side of the rainforest district.” He ended with a relieved sigh as he eased back to where he was laying earlier, Judys hand continuing the ministration of gently petting along his features, Nick gave no complaints.

 

“You didn’t have to go through all that trouble.”

 

“But I wanted to.” He responded happily enough.

 

Judy grinned again before shaking her head back and forth. “So I was a couple hours late for your surprise, but Officer Wilde, falling asleep half naked in my bed?” She tisked, “This could be misconstrued as sexual harassment by my partner.”

 

Nick stretched now, each of his ligaments outreaching as they tensed, the full length of which expressed in the way his legs now spanned far past the end of her bed and his hands forward and off the bed just beside her. “Good.”

 

“Good?” Judy quirked an eyebrow.

 

“I would hate for  _ this _ to be misinterpreted as anything less than a clearly forward advance of romantic intention involving my fellow patrol mammal Officer Hopps.” his smile turned devilish.

 

“Sly fox.”

 

Nicks eyes opened again as narrow slights having hidden behind his eyelids suddenly widened. “Dumb Bunny.” He said in much the same instant as his outstretched hands clasped around her and pulled her in. It was a show fight as she resisted being suddenly encapsulated in the warm comforter as she came to a rest there.

 

“Hey!”

 

“Is for horses.” He ended pointedly.

 

“Let me go,” Judy began to giggle.

 

“No, I caught the rabbit. As a fox I am duty bound to keep it.” This only made her laughter louder.

 

“No shirt, is that how you normally sleep?” She felt him nod in reply.

 

“Yea, but I learned in ranger scouts that fur on fur contact was the best way to heat up a cold mammal. And my partner recently made an alarming claim of ‘ _ ears with icicles on them _ ’ that I couldn’t in good conscience ignore.”

 

“You were kicked out of the ranger scouts, remember?”

 

“Oh,” Nicks brows furrowed. “Then it's just another inappropriate gesture between partners.”

 

Judy snickered again at the foxes antics as she slowly adjusted her place there under the comforter. “Kinda cramped.”

 

“That's all right, I was told by a  _ very  _ reliable source that rabbits don’t need much space.” Nick proclaimed proudly.

 

“How pragmatic.”

 

“Very.” Nick finished pointedly. Judy finally conceded to his antics, ending her play resistance.

 

“Alright you win, but can I get out of this uniform.”

 

“Yea.” He said as he let go, Judy quickly escaping his grasp and dressing down from her uniform there at the edge of the bed. “You should eat.”

 

It was quiet for a moment as he expected either the sound of the smoothie or the salad bowl to be the next thing to break the silence but instead it was the jolting sensation of the rabbit burrowing suddenly back into the bed. “Nope.”

 

“Nope?” He questioned as the rabbit fumbled happily with the blanket as she found a place quickly there closely pressed against his chest as she nestled her way there.

 

“Nah, i’m more tired than hungry.” She emitted a long, exhaled and contented breath as she laid her head along the same pillow he used, just under his chin. Nick pressed the intimated position as his free arm came up and over the rabbit nestled along his chest and carefully pulled her deeper into the thicker fur present there. Judys immediate response was to catch his free arm and place it right under her own chin as she gave it a soft, chaste kiss. “You know you love me.”

 

Nick could help but smile again, “Do I know that?-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well there went my procrastination. Sorry this one took so long, originally planned to be finished much sooner, this one shot was written for an art piece by Red Velvet Panda "http://red-velvet-panda.tumblr.com/post/176546474328/sleepy-heads"
> 
> I went on vacation recently to meet up for a semi annual Zootopia Fan meetup with a bunch of artists and writers, my first actual Vacation in, what 8 years? And it was awesome meeting some of the same people that inspired me to join the fandom in the first place! Including the creator of this piece of art Red herself, even managed to convince her to give me some of her original pieces MWAHAHAHAHA! Disneyland and California park, swam at one of their houses and hung out in San Jose also. Super fun. https://nobliwrites.tumblr.com/image/177863060331


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